Island Gardens Megayacht 50slip Marina Set For Launch This Summer

By Yudislaidy Fernandez
Construction of Flagstone Property Group’s Island Gardens mega-yacht, 50-slip marina is set to begin this summer, Miami Beach developer Mehmet Bayraktar says.

Investors have secured a $21 million loan for the project, he said.

The first step is to dredge, he said, preparing for the marina’s docks and piers with room for yachts up to 450 feet. Construction should take about 24 months, lease documents show.

Some utility lines that pass through the site will take up to six months to move.

Miami city commissioners agreed last Thursday to give the development group a 5-year extension on the construction period, but also committed the group to take over the ground lease in June.

Once the lease is in place, Flagstone’s monthly rent on the 11-acre Watson Island site is to rise from $51,000 to $83,000, totaling $1 million annually.

The project’s fourth extension is to allow the developer to obtain syndication from the financial markets for loans to build the remaining components: a Shangri-La hotel with 150 guest rooms and suites and 98 residences, a second hotel for which a management company has yet to be announced, and the retail and parking component.

But in preparation for a worst-case scenario, the city — owner of the Watson Island land — has included safeguards in its latest amendment with Flagstone.

Miami Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring said if the group cannot get the remaining financing for the retail and hotels by June 2011, the city can step in and take over the marina operation and re-bid the upland components.

"You have a world-class marina that the city could very well take over and build upland amenities to go along with it."

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