$500M Transit Village development in West Palm Beach project gets new investors
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The long-planned Transit Village development in West Palm Beach has a group of new, heavyweight investors determined to move the $500 million project forward.
Globe Invest Limited, the investment arm of billionaire entrepreneur Teddy Sagi, has signed on as an investor in Transit Village, a transportation-based, mixed-use development project covering 10 acres on Clearwater Drive and South Tamarind Avenue.
Related Group, the Miami-based development firm that owns Rosemary Square, has also agreed to invest in Transit Village. And so has BH Group, a Miami-based private equity and real estate investment firm.
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“We want to create a mixed-use, transit-oriented urban hub that will include office, retail, and workforce to luxury housing offerings," Related Chairman and CEO Jorge Pérez said in a statement announcing the new joint venture. "We will add great art and design, as is standard for Related, and create bicycle, pedestrian, and public transit linkages to connect easily within, to, and from, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. With this project, we further our partnership with the public sector to make West Palm Beach one of the best cities in America.”
The statement did not spell what roles the new firms will have in the joint venture or how much money they plan to spend on it. But each of the firms have shown they have the financial and bureaucratic muscle to see their own large-scale projects through to fruition.
Sagi, a native of Israel, founded the gambling software company Playtech and owns London's Camden Market, an open-air bazaar that attracts 250,000 visitors per week, according to The Independent in London.
Forbes estimated Sagi has a net worth of $5.6 billion. In describing Sagi's effort to buy a trading firm in Ireland in 2015, The Irish Times reported that the billionaire was convicted of securities fraud in the 1990s.
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Little is known about BH Group, the third investor. Its website was not fully operational Friday. A possibly related firm, BH Investment Group, based in Miami, has a portfolio it says is valued at $400 million.
Development firms often use holding companies or subsidiaries in various projects.
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BH Investment says it "maintains an extremely successful track record for visualizing and executing some of the most creative and successful real estate projects in South Florida and Latin America."
Transit Village is close to Interstate 95, less than three miles from Palm Beach International Airport and is connected to Tri-Rail and the Amtrak station and the county's bus transit center.
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Despite those advantages, Transit Village has struggled to go from conception to reality.
Dreamed up nearly two decades ago by developer Michael Masanoff, the project has been successful in securing $25 million in tax credits and grants. With myriad government approvals to secure, however, the project has not moved from dream to concrete and steel.
Masanoff is hoping the new joint venture will move the project forward.
"It is a true pleasure working with my partners in bringing Transit Village to fruition!" he said. "Our collective goal is to make the Palm Beach County and city of West Palm Beach transportation system more user-friendly and comprehensive."
Wayne Washington covers West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach and race relations. E-mail tips to wwashington@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: $500 million Transit Village project in West Palm Beach gets investors
