Estate Cos. Pays $13M for West Palm Beach Site for Soleste Tower
The Miami-based developer is doubling down on downtown West Palm Beach with a second Soleste tower backed by an $8.4 million Banesco USA loan.
Estate Companies paid $13 million for a 1.2-acre site at 411 W Railroad Ave in West Palm Beach, where the Miami-based developer plans a 15-story, 310-unit tower called Soleste Palm Station Two, The Real Deal reported. The purchase was backed by an $8.4 million loan from Banesco USA that can be upsized to $16.9 million, according to Connect CRE.
Why it matters
Estate Companies, led by principals Jeff Ardizon and Robert Suris, is betting a second time on the same stretch of downtown West Palm Beach. The firm’s first phase, The Belvedere by Soleste, is rising eight stories and 321 units away. Locking in a second site so close to the first signals the developer sees more room to run in a submarket near Brightline’s West Palm Beach station, even as the region absorbs a wave of new apartment supply. The upsizable loan structure gives Estate Companies a financing runway that can stretch well past the land price as the project moves toward construction.
The numbers
The 1.2-acre parcel traded for $13 million, or roughly $10.9 million per acre. Spread across the planned 310 units, that works out to about $41,900 per unit in land cost alone, before vertical construction. Soleste Palm Station Two calls for 84 micro-units, which is 27% of the total unit count, alongside larger one- and two-bedroom layouts. The building is designed with 8,200 square feet of indoor amenity space plus a 2,200-square-foot rooftop deck. The $8.4 million initial loan from Banesco USA covers about 65% of the purchase price, with room to grow to $16.9 million, a ceiling 30% above what Estate Companies paid for the land.
What’s next
Soleste Palm Station Two now moves toward permitting and construction financing following South Florida’s municipal review process, with Estate Companies aiming to replicate the density play it already has underway at The Belvedere by Soleste. The comparison between the two phases is notable: the new tower is nearly double the height of phase one but plans fewer total units, pointing to a larger average unit size once the micro-unit mix is factored in.