Developer and real estate attorney Isaac Kodsi’s final project will be completed by members of his family following his unexpected death.
Kodsi died in early August at the age of 59.
He was nearing completion of Arbor Residences, a Coconut Grove condo project that he acquired out of foreclosure in 2023. He was working closely with two of his adult children, Joseph and Camilla, at the family firm.
Kodsi’s brother, condo developer Dan Kodsi, will work with Camilla to complete the 45-unit building at 3034 Oak Avenue, just north of the neighborhood’s downtown, Dan tells me. Arbor has secured contracts for more than 60 percent of the building. Remaining units start at $1.7 million. Sandra Masis from Cervera Real Estate has been handling sales.
Dan says he will ensure the project is completed but that Camilla will take the lead and continue her father’s legacy.
“She’s got a great grip on what’s happening on the property,” he says. “For someone who doesn’t have that level of experience, she’s doing a great job.”
Isaac lived nearby in Coconut Grove with his wife, Teresita, and their children.
Dan says that while the residential market has been slow, Arbor is priced slightly lower than other buildings in the area, giving it an advantage. The building is expected to receive its temporary certificate of occupancy by the end of the year.
It will mark the long-awaited next chapter for Arbor. The previous developer, a partnership led by Nick Hamann and Jeremy Waks, launched sales at Arbor in 2017 and planned to deliver the building in 2019. Completion was delayed before the pandemic.
Camilla Kodsi wrote in a statement that completing the project, alongside her brother and uncle, “is deeply personal for me.”
Isaac bought the property out of foreclosure, returned buyers’ deposits and paid the general contractor and subcontractors who were owed money. Had the lender foreclosed on the site, the buyers likely would not have received their deposits back, he told me in 2023.
What we’re thinking about: I’m working on a story about the state of the Brickell condo market, focusing on new developments in the pipeline. What are you hearing? Send me a note at [email protected].
CLOSING TIME
Residential: Billionaire Russell Weiner paid $35.3 million for the waterfront mansion at 43 Star Island Drive in Miami Beach. The late Dr. David Frankel, a prominent dermatologist, owned the 11,104-square foot, eight-bedroom mansion with his wife, Linda Frankel. Weiner plans to renovate and expand the home, eventually listing it for sale for more than $100 million.
Commercial: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ real estate investment arm, Property Reserve, paid $152.5 million for a 384-unit building known as Del Ola at 7801 North Federal Highway in Boca Raton. Clarion Partners sold the apartment building.
— Research by Mary Diduch
NEW TO THE MARKET
The 14,321-square-foot, seven-bedroom estate at 2315 South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach hit the market for $73 million. The 1.8-acre property, with two pools, a theater, gym, guest quarters and more, is listed with Gary Pohrer of Serhant and Nick Malinosky of Douglas Elliman. It previously traded in 2022 for $44.9 million.
A thing we’ve learned
Weiner, the billionaire founder of Rockstar Energy Drink, is the real owner of the waterfront home at 5300 North Bay Road in Miami Beach. He’s been assembling a portfolio of ultra-luxury waterfront properties in the city in recent years.
Elsewhere in Florida
- A federal judge ordered the state to stop accepting new detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz” and dismantle infrastructure added to the former airport site in the Florida Everglades. The ruling stems from a lawsuit by environmental groups and a Native American tribe over the detention center’s effects on the ecosystem, CNN reports. The state is appealing the ruling.
- Siemens Energy signed a 242,000-square-foot office relocation lease in Lake Nona, marking the largest office lease in Orlando since 2009 and one of the top three ever recorded in the city, according to a press release. Tavistock Group, Lake Nona’s parent company, is the landlord for the building at 6876 Marwick Lane.
- Florida’s Department of Transportation ordered Miami Beach to remove its rainbow Pride crosswalks by early September, or face state removal and a bill for the costs, the Miami Herald reports. Overnight last week, FDOT painted over the rainbow crosswalk in Orlando that was a memorial to the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016.
Florida’s Board of Education voted to end awarding certificates of completion to students with disabilities, leaving them unable to earn a diploma without any formal recognition upon graduation, according to Central Florida Public Media.
