Visuals
Existing site & proposed plan
Two engagements on the Bahia Mar redevelopment: a 2021 economic & fiscal impact study, and — the flagship — a 2023 restructure analysis led by BusinessFlare® as prime consultant, quantifying the ground-lease value that anchored Tate's negotiation with the City of Fort Lauderdale.
BusinessFlare® supported the Bahia Mar redevelopment across two engagements. In 2021, as associate consultant to The Washington Economics Group, BusinessFlare built the fiscal side of the original Economic & Fiscal Impact study. In 2023 — the more significant engagement — BusinessFlare served as prime consultant, independently modeling a restructure of the deal that materially increased the value delivered to both the City of Fort Lauderdale and the client.
The flagship 2023 work tested converting the branded residential units from a leasehold interest to fee-simple ownership. Because fee-simple units command roughly a 25% pricing premium, the higher values flow back to the City through one-time fees, transfer fees, and ad valorem taxes — while strengthening the project's financing and marketability. BusinessFlare modeled construction costs, base and percentage rent, revenue sharing, taxable value, and ad valorem taxes across 10-, 50-, and 100-year horizons, with economic impacts generated in the IMPLAN input-output model.
BusinessFlare's 2023 restructure analysis showed that converting the branded units to fee-simple ownership would increase total revenue to the City of Fort Lauderdale by roughly $924 million over 100 years — a 24.4% gain, from about $3.79 billion under the leasehold structure to $4.71 billion. One-time fees rose ~38%, branded-unit transfer fees added ~$42 million, and first-year City ad valorem climbed from $7.6 million to $9.5 million — a rare structure that improved the return to the public and the private partners at once.
The flagship 2023 restructure, the development program, and the underlying economic and fiscal impact.
The flagship engagement. BusinessFlare independently modeled converting the branded units from a leasehold interest to fee-simple ownership. The ~25% fee-simple pricing premium raises the values that drive the City's one-time fees, transfer fees, and ad valorem taxes — increasing public revenue while improving the project's financing and marketability.
The program reimagined the underutilized Bahia Mar site as a luxury branded resort, residential, and marina destination, built out over a 7-to-9-year, three-phase timeline (Marina Village first, then the hotel and residential buildings) at a total construction cost of $914 million.
The 2021 study tallied every stream the proposed lease would return to the City — commercial percentage rent, base residential rent, residential revenue sharing, transfer fees, and ad valorem taxes — the numbers that framed the City negotiation.
Using the IMPLAN input-output model, the direct, indirect, and induced impact of the $914 million construction program totaled $980 million in economic activity for the City of Fort Lauderdale and $1.4 billion for Broward County.
Beyond construction, the completed development's ongoing operations — visitor stays, dining, retail, marina activity, and resident spending — were modeled as a permanent annual contribution to the local economy, led by high-wage knowledge-based services and the visitor industry.
The analysis modeled the specific proposed terms: percentage rent on commercial uses, CPI-escalated base residential rent, and a tiered revenue-sharing structure on the sale of branded units, including bonus shares tied to per-square-foot sale price and resale transfer fees.