Dependable Equities has secured $54 million in pre-construction financing for a two-tower mixed-use project planned just south of the New River in Downtown Fort Lauderdale, according to the developer's Instagram. Designed by New York-based architecture firm ODA, the development would deliver towers reaching up to 47 stories with nearly 1,460 residences and 14,000 square feet of retail — totaling almost 2 million square feet of new construction.
The $54 million raise is the most concrete indicator to date that the project is advancing through its pre-construction pipeline. Pre-construction capital at this stage typically covers design development, engineering, early permitting costs, and site preparation — work that precedes the substantially larger construction financing raise a program of this scale would require. Dependable Equities has not announced a groundbreaking date or delivery window in the source.
The two-tower configuration at nearly 1,460 combined units places this among the larger multifamily proposals in Broward County if built as described. Structuring the development across two towers gives Dependable Equities the option of phased delivery — a structure that lenders and equity partners favor when lease-up absorption at scale is the primary risk. At 14,000 square feet, the retail component is proportionally modest against the nearly 2-million-square-foot total program, suggesting the ground-floor commercial space is intended as a residential amenity rather than a destination retail corridor.
ODA's involvement signals that Dependable Equities intends to compete on design. The firm has built a practice around complex mixed-use residential towers and occupies a different tier than the production architecture that typically moves through South Florida's speculative residential pipeline. Developers who reach outside the market for design talent on towers of this scale generally do so when exterior form and unit layout are part of the leasing differentiation strategy.
The site's position just south of the New River gives the project river exposure that has historically carried a premium in Downtown Fort Lauderdale's residential market. The south bank has also carried more entitlement complexity than the north, though the source does not confirm the project's current permitting status or whether approvals from the City of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County are in hand.
With pre-construction financing closed, the next verifiable milestones are permit filings with the City of Fort Lauderdale and a construction financing raise — at 2 million square feet, a transaction that would require significant institutional participation. Those filings will be the first public record of the project's approved scope and timeline.
