Berkadia Arranges $97M Loan for South Florida Towers

Las Marinas Apartments. Image courtesy of EwingCole

The Brunetti Organization has received a $97 million construction loan to develop Las Marinas Apartments—two 17-story residential towers with a total of 256 units and a parking structure in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., just north of Miami.

The construction-to-permanent loan secured by Berkadia will also be used to renovate an adjacent existing 336-unit, 16-story rental tower, Marina del Mar, as well as to build an eight-story, 860-space parking garage and a new seawall. Located on an 8.6-acre site at 100 Kings Point Drive, the Las Marinas development will be surrounded by the Intercoastal Waterway. The first phase will involve upgrades to the existing tower, which was built in 1962, as well as construction of the garage and seawall. Construction on the two towers with 128 units in each building will begin in July and take about two years. 

New York Life Real Estate Investors provided the 15-year, fixed-rate permanent construction loan with five years of interest-only payments.

Berkadia Senior Managing Director Charles Foschini and Managing Director Christopher Apone of the firm’s Miami office arranged the financing for The Brunetti Organization.

In prepared remarks, Foschini called a construction-to-permanent loan “one of the most unique executions within the capital markets,” because it provides construction financing but also locks in the interest rate for many years for a project that will not be built and stable for several years. He noted that to achieve this financing during a pandemic required extra effort from all parties on both sides of the transaction. He credited the design, construction and legal team, including Jorge Vigil, attorney for The Brunetti Organization; Donald Dissinger, principal with the architecture firm EwingCole; and Brad Meltzer, president, Plaza Construction.

Sunny Isles Market

Other developers are also active in Sunny Isles. Last month, Fortune International Group and Château Group received a $119 million refinance loan from Bank OZK for La Playa de Varadero, 1.2 million-square-foot oceanfront development at 18801 Collins Ave., where 490 units are planned. The development will be built in two phases across 4.7 acres.

Also nearby, Fontainbleu Development is building Turnberry Ocean Club, a 54-story luxury condo tower that received a $460 million refinancing loan in September from JP Morgan Chase and Mack Real Estate Credit Strategies.