Who is Canadian real estate firm converting Miami Beach’s Clevelander into a high-rise?

Canadian developer Jesta Group announced plans Thursday to turn Miami Beach’s landmark Clevelander Hotel and Bar on Ocean Drive into a 30-story apartment tower intended for people who need affordable housing.

The 85-year-old Clevelander property Jesta bought in 2018 is one of a handful of hospitality properties it owns in South Florida.

Who is the Jesta Group?

▪ Established in 1992, Jesta is an international commercial property investor and developer based in Montreal. The company owns about 20 properties, mostly shopping centers and hotels in Miami, Texas, Montreal, Toronto, Paris, Berlin and the United Kingdom.

In Miami area, Jesta owns:

▪ Clevelander Hotel and Bar, 1020 Ocean Drive.

▪ Essex House Hotel, 1001 Collins Ave., adjacent to Clevelander.

▪ The Stiles Hotel, 1120 Collins Ave.

▪ Best Western Hotel and Shuckers Bar & Grill, 1819 79th St. Causeway in North Bay Village.

Jesta’s other notable Miami-Dade County real estate project:

▪ The Canadian company is redeveloping the iconic Shuckers Bar & Grill and Best Western in North Bay Village in a $300 million project. Jesta is razing the Shuckers building and the Best Western to clear the way for a 30-story high-rise with 345 apartments and 273 hotel rooms. Eighteen of the apartments will carry discounted rents for local workers.

North Bay Village — comprised of Harbor, North Bay and Treasure islands connected by bridges — links the mainland to Miami Beach’s Normandy Isles neighborhood. The changing village is decades beyond its heyday during the 1950s, when Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland performed there.