James Tate, President & CEO, Tate Capital
Invest: sat down with James Tate, president and CEO of Tate Capital, to discuss how his family’s multigenerational roots in South Florida shape the firm’s long-term approach to development, ownership, and lending. Tate described Tate Capital as an extension of the Tate family office, built to pursue institutional-quality opportunities while staying close to the community it serves. “We build community, and we build communities,” Tate said.
How would you describe Tate Capital’s role in South Florida’s real estate market?
Tate Capital is a byproduct of my family office, the Tate family office. It’s our development arm, but it’s really more like a brand because every asset and every development has its own entity. Tate Capital is co-owned by my brother, Kenny Tate, and me. Tate Development was founded in 1986, and Tate Capital was founded in the early 2000s. The purpose was originally to buy distressed debt and institutional-grade, income-producing assets. We were successful in coming out of the 2008 crisis.
Our main business, though, has always been real estate development in all aspects, whether it’s commercial, multifamily, condominium, industrial, or hotels. We take a long view because of our family’s history here. My brother and I are third generation, our kids are fourth generation in the company, and our grandkids are now going to be fifth generation. Our family has been in South Florida since the early 1930s. My grandfather started developing on Miami Beach in the 1930s and 1940s, and my father started in the 1950s, so we have deep roots here.
Reputation is important to us, and every development we get involved with, we want to make sure it reflects our standards. For us, the purpose is not just to develop a property, but to do something meaningful for the community. We feel it’s important to not just take from communities, but to give back so they can continue to grow and prosper for the next generation. We build community, and we build communities. We’re a developer of communities, but we also like to build community by understanding the pulse of the community and working with consensus so that what we do fits and complements the area we’re developing in.
Since Tate Capital is vertically integrated from sourcing to management, how does this full-cycle capability benefit local investors and property partners?
We’re involved in all aspects. We do some hard equity lending, although we’ve slowed that down a bit in today’s market. We also syndicate with friends and family. We don’t do syndications to the public, but because we’ve been in the community for so long, our friends and family have a far reach. We provide opportunities for those groups to invest alongside us in our developments and acquisitions.
There’s a lot of capital in South Florida, and investors want to work with developers who are responsible, reputable, and qualified. We put ourselves in that class. Being vertically integrated matters because we’re close to sourcing, structuring, execution, and ownership, and that helps create alignment with partners who want disciplined decision-making and a long-term mindset. We’re not trying to chase transactions. We want to be proud of what we build and how it performs over time.
How is Tate Capital evaluating and participating in large-scale and luxury projects?
We look for opportunities, but we are not merchant developers. We develop to own. If it’s a multifamily rental, we want to own it and hold it in the portfolio. If it’s commercial or a hotel, the goal is the same. We’re underwriting for long-term ownership, and we want projects that are meaningful assets, not just transactions.
A good example is a project we’ve been working on for the last 11 years, getting entitlements for a five-star luxury branded resort hotel with hotel residences, condominiums, and commercial. It’s about a $3.5 billion development called Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale. We opened our sales center with our partners, Rok Enterprises and The Related Group, in March 2025. We missed part of the season, but coming into this season we’re in full stride, with more than 40 sales so far.
The development includes about a million square feet of saleable residential product and a five-star luxury branded resort hotel with the St. Regis brand. St. Regis will manage and brand the residential product and the entire property, which means a white-glove, five-star experience. The site also includes a 250-yacht marina, and it sits directly on Fort Lauderdale Beach, surrounded by water.
For us, luxury projects should also contribute to the public realm. At Bahia Mar, we’re building the Marina Village Area, a three-quarter-mile boardwalk around the community overlooking the marina, and a two-acre park within the community for the public. The Bahia Mar CDD is also contributing up to $1.0 million to fund Public Improvements on a renovated beachfront Park across the street from the Bahia Mar.
The beachfront park is a gift to the city for all of Fort Lauderdale to enjoy. We also set up five trust funds funded by a portion of sales proceeds to support issues like homelessness, environmental resilience, workforce and affordable housing, and STEM programming. We structured it so that on every resale within the community, a small fraction goes into those trust funds, so in perpetuity, they can continue to be funded. That’s a clear example of how we like to develop best-in-class products while also doing something that transcends time and gives back.
How does Tate Capital balance risk and opportunity in a market that can be sensitive to economic cycles, interest rate changes, and demographic shifts?
Because we develop our own portfolio, we look at everything long term, and our underwriting reflects that. We don’t develop just to make fees. If it doesn’t make sense as an owned asset, we’re willing to pass.
We have a high-rise luxury multifamily rental project near my office in North Miami, near Sole Mia. When we started underwriting this development with our partners, Rok Enterprises, the economics worked beautifully, and we were ready to get off the ground. Unfortunately, by the time we got the permits and everything we needed from the city, interest rates changed dramatically. We were ready to move forward when interest rates were around a point and a half, and by the time approvals from the NMCRA were in place, interest rates rose to approximately 7.5%. The economics didn’t work, so the project had to be tabled.
Now we’re at a point where it can make economic sense again, but the question becomes whether the risk-reward is there under today’s lending standards. Lenders want personal guarantees on everything, and even when a deal underwrites, although it may not be a home run. So we’re not rushing. We’re focused on how to mitigate downside risk so we can deliver the right product without bringing on unnecessary exposure for my partners, my brother, or the company.
How is Tate Capital positioned to support borrowers and investors in the current environment, particularly regarding loans?
We are primarily hard equity lenders, and we’re only a short-term lender. We’re not a bank, and we’re not here to do construction financing. The lending we do is typically first-position, short-term money where someone wants to close on a property and time is of the essence. They have their entitlements, they’re positioned to refinance, but they need a short-term loan to close and then take us out quickly. We don’t want to have our money out for more than a year.
In the broader market, you have different categories of lenders: conventional lenders such as banks, mezzanine lenders, and hard equity lenders. Conventional and mezzanine pricing move with the interest-rate environment, and structure has tightened with more emphasis on guarantees and conservatism. The only category we participate in is hard equity lending. For the right borrower and the right deal, our role is to provide speed and certainty to close, backed by strong collateral, a clear plan, professional and respected borrowers, and a defined exit so the loan can be repaid quickly after closing.
