Belpointe Lands $204M Refi for Florida Property
Affinius Capital provided the funds.
Belpointe OZ has secured a $204.1 million refinancing note for Aster & Links, a 424-unit, Class A property in Sarasota, Fla. Affinius Capital issued the funds in a deal arranged by Lantern Real Estate Advisors + Partners Co-Founder Tal Bar-or.
Part of this loan retired existing debt, which, according to Yardi Matrix data, took the form of a $130 million construction note issued by Bank OZK in 2023. Belpointe will utilize the remaining proceeds for lease-up and stabilization of the newly completed community.
Aster & Links consists of one- to three-bedroom floorplans, ranging from 802 to 2,840 square feet, as well as 50,000 square feet of retail space. Sprouts Farmers Market leases the commercial space, while the residential portion is more than 50 percent occupied.
READ ALSO: Opportunity Zones: New and Improved?
Located at 1991 Main St., the community is within walking distance of several parks, transit stops, as well as Sarasota’s downtown area and bayfront. Blackstone’s Adley at Lakewood, part of a portfolio that backs a $465 million debt package, is about 8 miles away.
Belpointe’s qualified opportunity fund, the sole such publicly traded investment vehicle, has more than 2,500 units under development with an approximate project cost exceeding $1.3 billion.
Opportunity zone development led to the creation of 313,000 units between September 2019 and 2024, according to a study by the Economic Innovation Group. That figure may increase further as the program will be made a permanent part of the Tax Code starting next year.
Other OZ investors include Cantor Fitzgerald and Silverstein Properties. Back in March, the duo closed their fund with more than $470 million in equity raised for four multifamily mixed-use developments, including 1,932 units.
A spike in completions on the Southwest Florida Coast
Across the Southwest Florida Coast, developers brought online more than 9,500 units in the first nine months of 2025, a significant increase compared to the 6,790 apartments delivered during that same period last year, according to Yardi Matrix.
At the end of September, the market still held north of 16,800 units under development, although that figure was roughly 17 percent lower compared to the one registered in September 2024, the data provider shows. Developers are focusing on upscale projects, as 72.1 percent of all units underway were Lifestyle apartments. Units in RBN and affordable developments accounted for the remaining 27.9 percent of the pipeline.
