The Family Office Diligence File for Fouquet's Hotel & Residences Miami

Fouquet's Hotel & Residences Miami is a 143-residence, hotel-branded pre-construction project in the Design District: a 25-story tower by David Chipperfield Architects with RDAI interiors, more than 40,000 square feet of amenities, and Fouquet's operating the hotel side, developed by Raycliff Capital, Fort Partners, Miami Design District Associates, and Constellation Hotels Holding Ltd. For the operator, the file has six tabs, and each one is a document question, not a marketing question: what the reserves look like, what assessments the documents allow, where deposits sit in escrow, who exactly is behind the developer entity, what the guest and rental eligibility rules are, and when the amenities the family will actually use go dark for maintenance. Work the tabs in order. The answers are in the condominium documents, the purchase agreement, and the offering filing, and nowhere else.

Reserves are the association's savings for the future repair and replacement of common elements, and on a hotel-branded project the question is more layered than on a plain condominium. The operator should confirm: does the budget include a reserve schedule from day one, which components are reserved (roof, building systems, shared amenity spaces), and how the hotel-shared elements are treated. Florida law has specific reserve requirements and waiver rules, and counsel should confirm how they apply to this project's structure. Read the budget, read the reserve study if one exists, and model the first five years of dues with a skeptical eye: a thin reserve position at turnover becomes a special assessment later.

Assessments are the other side of the reserve coin: what the association can levy beyond regular dues, and when. The operator's checklist: the documents' provisions for special assessments, who votes and what threshold applies, how costs are allocated between the residential component and the hotel component, and what happens during the developer-control period if operating costs exceed the budget. On an amenity-heavy project, the operating budget is the number that moves. The operator should ask for the projected budget, understand which line items are estimates, and confirm how the hotel operator's fees flow through to residential owners, if they do. A family office does not fear a large budget; it fears an unmodeled one.

Pre-construction deposits do not go to the developer's operating account; they go to escrow, and the operator should verify the mechanics. Florida's condominium statute sets rules for how pre-construction deposits are held, and the purchase agreement names the escrow agent. The file should confirm: the escrow agent's identity, the conditions for release of deposits to the developer (if any are permitted before closing), and the refund provisions if the buyer defaults or if the project does not proceed. Each staged deposit should be traceable to an escrow statement, reconciled against the purchase agreement's schedule. Keep every receipt.

Capacity is the tab where the operator verifies who is actually building the building. The offering materials name four development partners and one operator, and each name is a diligence thread. Raycliff Capital is described as a global private investment firm specializing in real estate and financial services, operating from New York and Miami. Fort Partners is a privately held real estate and hospitality development firm led by entrepreneur Nadim Ashi. Miami Design District Associates is the joint venture of Dacra, founded by Craig Robins, L Catterton Real Estate, and Brookfield Properties, the group that controls the Design District itself. Constellation Hotels Holding owns and operates real estate investment properties and luxury hotels between the United States and Europe, and is developing its own Maybourne brand. The hotel operator is Fouquet's, the signature brand of the Barrière Group, with a heritage dating to 1899 on the Champs-Élysées and a Miami debut following the 2022 opening of Fouquet's New York in Tribeca. Sales are handled by Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. The developer entity in the offering materials is RFD MDD Residences LLC, and the offering is filed under CPS-12, file number CP26-0012. The operator's job is to verify each of these against public records, confirm the entity's standing, and understand the capital structure behind the project. This is factual verification, not commentary, and the file should contain the records, not impressions.

On a hotel-branded residence, who can stay in the unit, and on what terms, is a governed question. The operator should confirm in the documents: whether owners may place residences in a hotel rental program, whether participation is mandatory or optional, how owner-use days are allocated, who sets nightly rates, and what the revenue split looks like. Equally important are the guest rules: who counts as a guest versus a tenant, what registration guests require, whether there are minimum stay rules, and how the hotel's brand standards apply to occupied units. For a family office managing the residence as a family asset with guests, staff, and principal rotations, these rules determine whether the building works operationally. Assume the documents are restrictive until proven otherwise, and get every material term in writing.

Every amenity the family will use goes dark sometimes, and the operator should know when before the family discovers it. The checklist: the documents' provisions for amenity closures during maintenance, renovation, or hotel-driven events; who decides on closures and what notice owners receive; how the shared terraces are scheduled between residential and hotel use; and whether the rooftop pool, spas, and fitness facilities have planned maintenance windows. The operator should also ask about the hotel's event calendar and its impact on residential circulation, parking, and noise. It is the difference between a residence the office can schedule around and one that surprises the principals.

Diligence tabs are building-agnostic; the documents are not. Kempinski Residences, pre-launch in the Design District with expected closing in Q1 2030, runs its six tabs on its own purchase agreement and condominium documents. Nobu, the Brickell waterfront project by 13th Floor Investments and Key International, runs its on Nobu's. An operator running parallel files should never carry an answer from one building's documents into another's. The desk's broader guide to Miami condominiums covers the purchase mechanics that sit underneath all six tabs.

Build the six-tab file from the documents, not from the brochure: reserves and the reserve study, the assessment provisions and the operating budget, escrow mechanics and every deposit receipt, the developer entity's standing and the CPS-12 filing, the guest and rental eligibility rules in writing, and the maintenance and shared-use provisions. Have counsel review the purchase agreement and condominium documents in full. Model five years of dues with a skeptical eye. And confirm, in writing, every material term the family's use of the residence depends on. The file is the diligence; the brochure is the invitation.

The desk keeps the current file on Fouquet's Hotel & Residences Miami: plans, pricing, and availability as the developer releases them. If you want the private file, ask.