Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
45-story tower set for completion in 2019
Nearly 18 months after acquiring a site in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Kolter Group will launch sales for 100 Las Olas, a 45-story building next to Huizenga Park featuring condominiums and a hotel.
Kolter will open sales of the 121 condos Jan. 14, said Bob Vail, president of the developer’s urban division. He expects construction to start in March or April and be complete by 2019.
Prices will range from just under $800,000 to more than $2 million. Several penthouses will be substantially more expensive, but those units have not yet been priced, Vail said.
Vail expects 100 Las Olas to attract domestic buyers who want to live there rather than foreign investors more interested in renting the units.
“We’ve found across the state a very large market segment of buyers who can afford product up to about $1.5 million,” he said. “We see a lot of runway in that market.”
Vail said he sees strengthening demand for condos in Broward County, adding that the company “would be very concerned” about building in Miami-Dade County, where a glut of unsold units has formed.
Kolter has hired OneWorld Properties to market and sell 100 Las Olas. A sales center will open across from the site, at 200 E. Las Olas Blvd.
Peggy Olin Fucci, CEO of OneWorld, said the project is ideal for people who want to live within walking distance of Las Olas’ shops and restaurants.
“The hottest amenity, to me, is the walkability factor,” she said. “People want to be mobile, not sitting in traffic as much.”
At 499 feet, 100 Las Olas will be Fort Lauderdale’s tallest building, though an apartment developer also has proposed a 499-foot tower on the site of the Las Olas Riverfront.
The hotel will feature 238 rooms and include meeting space, and a lobby restaurant and bar with indoor and outdoor seating. It also will have an 8,500-square-foot space for another restaurant.
Kolter is close to finalizing a deal with a national company to operate the hotel, Vail said.
The hotel and condos will not have shared amenities, he said. Kolter, a West Palm Beachbased developer, bought the site, less than an acre, for $17.25 million in August 2015.
The company is building single-family homes and condos across Palm Beach and Broward counties. In addition, Kolter operates the 200-room Hyatt Place Boca Raton/Downtown, which opened last month.
The firm also operates Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale 17th Street Convention Center, Hyatt Place Delray Beach, Hyatt Place West Palm Beach and Hilton Garden Inn Palm Beach Gardens.
The 100 Las Olas project will compete with the 220-room Riverside Hotel, the only hotel along Las Olas Boulevard.
“Las Olas is an awfully nice address to have,” said Scott Brush, a hotel industry consultant based in Miami. “It’s been an underserved market for a long time.”