NY private equity firm backs $80M Naples condo deal

NAPLES — A developer backed by private equity paid $80 million for one of the two remaining parcels in the Pelican Bay development, where it plans to build a condo tower.

Naples developer Gulf Bay Group of Companies, backed by prominent private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, will build a 22-story, 87-unit luxury condo called Mystique.

“Partnering with KKR, a firm with a storied reputation as a sophisticated and savvy investor, represents an endorsement and acknowledgement of the unique opportunity afforded by one of the last two ultra-luxury high-rise sites between The Ritz-Carlton in Pelican Bay and Port Royal,” says Aubrey Ferrao in a statement. Ferrao founded Gulf Bay in 1986 and has developed residential communities including Fiddler's Creek,

“Aubrey Ferrao and the Gulf Bay Group of Companies have developed high-rise condominium towers along the Gulf of Mexico in Naples for 30 years and know the luxury market in Naples like few other developers,” says Roger Morales, co-head of KKR Real Estate Acquisitions in the Americas, in a statement.

Details on the new tower were not disclosed except that it's in the initial planning stages.