MIAMI | Mercedes-Benz Places | 754 + 708 FT | 64 + 64 FLOORS | ON HOLD

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/magazine/august-...-come-back-from-crises-and-chaos-before/

JDS is in talks with Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development to invest in and co-develop Mercedes-Benz. They are working on a loan of more than $1 billion from lenders that include Byron Trott and Gregg Lemkau’s firm, BD&T & MSD, sources previously told TRD. That deal, if it closes, would rescue the project and preserve buyers’ deposits and agent commissions. Sources say Stern and JDS would remain a partner in the project. Fontainebleau Development has yet to confirm that and declined to comment.

JDS is also working on securing $640 million in financing for 888 Brickell Avenue, according to a source. Financing for both projects could close later this summer.

More lawsuits could be in the works. Subcontractors at Mercedes-Benz Places have filed lis pendens to formally mark their place in the line to be repaid, should Cottonwood foreclose.

Circumstances at 888 Brickell, the planned 250-unit supertall, don’t solve any problems. One Sotheby’s, which had been selling the Dolce & Gabbana project, walked off after suing for commissions in May. Two years ago, the firm took over sales from Oren and Tal Alexander’s firm Official, after the brothers’ sexual-assault scandal that led to recent criminal convictions. And construction has not begun.

Yet Stern, the unflappable, is also unapologetic.

He once told TRD that the best advice he ever received was not worrying about making money in the short term.

Making a mark on the skyline is more important than a project’s financial success, he has said, using 111 West 57th Street as one of the strongest examples.

“It doesn’t keep me up at night,” he said. “I’ve developed 20 million square feet over 20-plus years and there are always challenges.”