Private Island to Be Developed As PRIVE

Luxe, twin glass condo towers are planned for the eight-acre site in Aventura

August 12, 2013 01:00PM
By Emily Schmall               

                            

On private island, condo development and island to be called Privé

A company founded in 2009 acquiring debt on distressed South Florida projects is planning a luxe residential development on an island in Aventura they purchased and have named Privé, the principals told The Real Deal.
Gary Cohen, whose parents are credited with dredging and filling what is now Aventura during the 1960s, sold the eight-acre private island to BH3 Management LLC. The now-vacant island on the Intracoastal Waterway connects by bridge to Cohen’s Mediterranean-style single-family home development, Island Estates.
The developers, BH3 principals Daniel Lebensohn, Charlie Phelan and Greg Freedman, have submitted plans for the Miami-based architectural firm Sieger Suarez to build twin, 16-story glass towers with a raised, glass floor-to-ceiling lobby at 68 feet above sea level to offer 360-degree views of the waterway and the ocean, according to renderings shared with TRD. The 160 apartments will range in price from $1.7 million to $6 million. The towers — as well as the island — are to be known as Privé.
“We believe that South Florida has a very bright future,” Lebensohn told TRD.
The company learned of the island through mutual acquaintances of Cohen after buying the debt on a handful of high-profile properties that stalled during the recession, including Trump Hollywood, Fontainebleau Sorrento and 1805 Ponce in Coral Gables. BH3 managed to sell out all the units in Trump Hollywood in Hollywood Beach in 18 months, and subsequently bought the distressed debt on 1805 Ponce from Ocean Bank last December.