Cohen buys design center.

National real estate developer Charles S. Cohen, already the largest private owner of luxury home furnishing design centers in the United States, has completed the acquisition of the 775,000 square foot Design Center of the Americas (DCOTA) in the Dania Beach section of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The property, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, was purchased from Danto Investment Company of Troy, Michigan. DCOTA was conceived by Marvin I. Danto, who together with his son, James H. Danto, developed the property to be the largest freestanding design center in the world.

Located at I-95 and Griffin Road in one of South Florida's "hottest" metropolitan regions, DCOTA is a world renowned three-building design center campus showcasing extraordinary furnishings for home, yacht or office. In addition to its 150 showrooms featuring fine furniture, fabric, flooring, lighting, kitchen, bath, art, accessories, decorative hardware and antiques, it also contains three restaurants and a designer's lounge.

Known for an uncanny ability to successfully redevelop and creatively reposition commercial real estate, Mr. Cohen, owner and President/CEO of Manhattan-based Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation, is credited with the dramatic rebirth and resurgence of such high profile design centers serving design professionals as the D&D (Decoration and Design) Building in New York City, the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, CA, and the Decorative Center Houston, Texas.

"With the acquisition of DCOTA, we are now better able to serve all major international design markets, including Europe, Asia, the Pacific Rim and Latin America through our four centers located on the East and West Coasts as well as the Gulf Coasts of Florida and Texas," asserted Mr. Cohen, who expects to announce his plans for repositioning the Florida facility later this year.