Cain, Kushner JV Plans Twin-Tower Rio Vista Residences on New River

Cain International and Kushner Companies have filed plans for Rio Vista Residences, twin towers of 28 and 22 stories with 440 units at 633 S Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale, on a site under contract from Oko Group along the New River, according to FloridaYIMBY and Hoodline, which reviewed the filing under the entity CI River District Phase 1 Owner LLC.

Why it matters

This is the JV’s second disclosed South Florida project since it launched in April, and its first ground-up rental tower rather than a condo play. Cain and Kushner are pairing on scale now, not just capital, and a 570,362-square-foot filing on a 40,504-square-foot site signals how much density this partnership is willing to push through Fort Lauderdale’s urban core rather than the suburbs. For developers watching where institutional joint ventures are willing to underwrite next, New River frontage adjacent to downtown just became a live comp.

The numbers

The filing calls for 440 units ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, sized 565 to 1,625 square feet, connected by a nine-story podium. Commercial space totals 11,550 square feet of retail, more than 4,000 square feet of restaurant space, and 69,363 square feet of health and fitness use, plus 841 parking spaces. Oko Group bought the site in June 2020 for $33.16 million, per Hoodline’s review of county records. Palma Architecture is the project architect, with Stephanie J. Toothaker of Toothaker & Thomas as land use counsel. The JV’s only other disclosed South Florida project, a 364-unit tower in Miami’s Edgewater, launched in April on a $42 million loan from BDT & MSD Partners.

Oko Group has now been the counterparty on three Cain International transactions we have tracked since mid-July: a Una Residences penthouse closing on August 27, OLIN Palm Beach condo sales that launched August 5, and now the site sale behind Rio Vista. That is a working relationship playing out across price points and product types, not an isolated deal.

What’s next

Neither outlet reports a groundbreaking date or construction financing for Rio Vista, and the site sale from Oko Group has not yet closed on the public record. Watch Broward County property records for the closing and any recorded construction loan, and watch whether Cain-Kushner disclose a third South Florida site before year end, which would confirm this JV is building a regional pipeline rather than opportunistically pairing on one-off deals.