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Fortress refinances Dania Beach Design Center with $45M loan
The refinancing backs a 780,000-square-foot office and design showroom complex, with $3 million in recent upgrades and $3 million to $5 million more planned over the next year.
Fortress Investment Group has refinanced the Design Center of the Americas in Dania Beach, Florida, according to Commercial Observer, securing a $45 million loan from City National Bank of Florida to support the 780,000-square-foot office and design showroom complex at 1855 Griffin Road.
The property, which dates to 1988, has seen about $3 million of investment over the past two years, and Fortress is planning another $3 million to $5 million in renovations over the coming year. In June, Fortress also tapped Jamestown to oversee management and leasing of the mixed-use site.
The refinancing follows a foreclosure fight involving the prior owner, New York-based billionaire Charles Cohen. Fortress won control of the Design Center and the neighboring Le Méridien Dania Beach hotel in 2024 through a $76 million credit bid, after Cohen Realty Enterprises defaulted on a $535 million debt package provided in 2022, a loan in which Cohen personally guaranteed $187 million.
The earlier dispute also included claims by the lender that the commercial properties were worth less than what Cohen owed. Commercial Observer reports Cohen said in June that he paid off the full judgment, but legal action remains, with Cohen filing to recoup $204 million in alleged damages.