Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Investment firm iStar Financial hopes to finally open the troubled downtown Miami condo tower Paramount Bay this year, adding ST Residential to the property’s title. The 47-story waterfront tower is difficult to miss, but it has remained vacant and unfinished for nearly six years.
When Royal Palm Miami Holdings began construction in 2005, there was plenty of hype surrounding the luxury tower. It was supposed to be cutting edge and truly raise the bar in Miami, but poor money management and a tragic crane accident in which two workers were killed made the property almost appear as though it were cursed.
Royal Palm even took out a $210 loan in 2006 from Corus Bank and iStar Financial, but it was having trouble finding ways to pay for it. Finally, with Corus Bank out of business since 2009 and Royal Palm owing a ton of money, iStar won a foreclosure settlement and assumed the property’s title along with ST Residential on May 10, 2011.
Currently, the tower is like a ghost town with 340 units all sitting there unoccupied, but iStar and ST are hoping to change all of that, even hiring famed musician-turned-designer Lenny Kravitz to take over the interior design. They have also enlisted Fortune International to handle strategic sales and marketing.
"I believe that the vision and stability being provided by iStar Residential and ST Residential for the repositioning and relaunching of Paramount Bay are key elements to the successes of this project. We at Fortune International are extremely excited about working together to make Paramount Bay an extraordinary real estate asset," said Edgardo Defortuna, President of Fortune International.
When it is finally complete, residents who live in Paramount Bay will enjoy amazing views of Bay and South Beach, as well as the Wynwood Arts District, the Design District, and many other attractions. It will be “first-class living” for its residents, assuming the curse thing is just a myth.
