Miami heavyweights Gencom and Fortune International Group have formed a joint venture, securing $300 million in financing from Blackstone, to combine the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne and the nearby Grand Bay Club into a single property.
Gencom, a global hospitality investment and development firm, teamed up with Fortune affiliate Key Bay Club to unify the luxury 420-key hotel at 455 Grand Bay Drive with the club next door at 425 Grand Bay Drive. The financing, provided by Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, will be used to fund the $100 million renovation currently underway at the hotel and to refinance existing debt.
The joint venture, led by Gencom, provides Key Bay Club with an ownership interest in both properties and unifies the two properties into a 22-acre master plan with over 1,200 linear feet of beach frontage. The approximately 15,000-square-foot club will also be renovated as part of the deal, starting in 2026 and completed that summer.
Edgardo Defortuna, a key figure in this joint venture, is a well-known South Florida developer, broker and investor. Defortuna is currently involved in the early stages of developing a new oceanfront condominium on Key Biscayne with fellow developer Terra at the site of the former Silver Sands Beach Resort, a block away from the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne and the Grand Bay Club.
“The merger of these two trophy assets is a win-win for everyone involved because the sum of the pieces is clearly more than the individual components,” Defortuna said in the statement. He added that 1,200 feet of oceanfront access is “extremely unique” in South Florida since the region’s coastline is essentially built out.
Gencom plans to complete the hotel's renovation by December this year and recently unveiled the extent of its plans there, with a new color palette, restaurants and designs inspired by the natural environment around Key Biscayne, an exclusive island village just six miles south of downtown Miami.