Kolter Group bought a condemned waterfront hotel in Miami Beach for $26 million as part of a residential redevelopment play with an adjacent property.
An affiliate of Delray Beach-based Kolter, led by Bobby Julien, acquired the 90-year-old Normandy Plaza Hotel at 6979 Collins Avenue, records and real estate database Vizzda show.
Wells Fargo provided a $41 million mortgage that is also secured by the Crystal Beach Suites Miami Oceanfront Resort at 6985 Collins Avenue. Kolter and Aventura-based BH Group, led by Isaac and Liat Toledano, bought the 84-room Crystal Beach in 2023 for $24 million.
Vilarino Property Group, managed by Antonio Vilarino in Hollywood, sold the 63-room Normandy Plaza to Kolter. The seller paid $6.7 million for the property in 2007, records show. Built in 1936, the three-story hotel was designed by the late L. Murray Dixon, an architect behind a slew of Art Deco buildings in Miami Beach.
Kolter and BH’s plans to tear down the hotels won approval from the Miami Beach Preservation Board in September. The joint venture is planning a 19-story condominium with 37 units and 86 parking spaces. Miami-based Kobi Karp is the architect.
The hotels are not designated historic landmarks, but the properties are in a historic district in the city’s North Beach neighborhood, requiring the preservation board’s review of the redevelopment proposal.
Miami-Dade County declared Normandy Plaza an unsafe structure and ordered its demolition in 2018, a September letter of intent by the developer states. The building has been vacant since 2013.
Kolter and BH listed the Crystal Beach property for sale with a whisper price of $110 million last year. However, a source familiar with the redevelopment plan said the joint venture is no longer selling the site. Kolter and BH representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Kolter and BH also teamed up to develop Solana Bay, a 10-story waterfront condominium with 52 units in North Miami. Sales for the project launched last year.
