Merco Group Plans Condo Project With $30M Land Buy

WEST PALM BEACH, FL-A South Florida developer has purchased 4.7 acres of land here through US Bankruptcy Court for a premium $30 million. The price equals nearly $6.5 million per acre.Merco Group of the Palm Beaches Inc., led by Homero Meruelo and based in Miami Beach, bought the property from locally based the Mark Andrews of the Palm Beaches Ltd., whose main principal is Loretta Gardner. The sale closed March 31. Merco Group of the Palm Beaches plans to develop a condominium project, with approximately 300 units, on the property, according to Bard Brenner of Sam Brenner Inc. in Miami, who represented that company in the transaction.The property is bounded by North Flagler Drive on the east, by Ponce De Leon Boulevard on the west, by 23rd Street on the north and by Piccadilly Way on the south. The land is across the street from Currie Park. The project will feature views of Lake Worth. The site had previously been approved in 2001 for a 784,000-sf, upscale life-care facility to be called Mark Andrew. Approval was received for a 12-story building.Developers will have to move fairly quickly—with a ground-breaking planned soon—because the building permit is set to expire June 25. “We did this deal so fast,” Brenner says. “Everything’s on a fast track.”The price tag was high, according to Brenner. The opening bid was supposed to be $23 million, but nobody bid that price to close, which gave him the opportunity to sell it. An offer of $28 million-plus before Brenner was involved in the transaction fell through, he says, and the property previously was listed at $36 million.Brenner says he thought to approach Merco Group of the Palm Beaches, whom he has known for some time, because the company has purchased a couple of other projects out of the courts in the past. “He has an affinity for these types of deals,” he says.Susan Thomas of Touchstone Webb Realty Co. in West Palm Beach represented the Mark Andrews of the Palm Beaches Ltd. Louis Zaretsky of Ritter Ritter & Zaretsky in Miami was the attorney for the buyer.Merco Group also recently purchased South Florida’s Deaville hotel.