MIAMI—New retail developments in Miami are still winning the confidence of commercial real estate investors. CBRE Capital Markets' Debt & Structured Finance team has secured financing on behalf of MAC 1045 5th Street, LLC, an entity affiliated with Comras Company, for the construction of BLVD at Lenox, a new Miami Beach multi-level retail development.

Located at the gateway to South Beach, on the northeast corner of 5th Street and Lenox Avenue, the five-story property is 50% pre-leased with Target's new urban format as the primary anchor tenant. After breaking ground in January 2018, the project will be delivered in early 2019.

CBRE's Atlanta-based Jonathan Rice and Jeff Ackemann secured a $35 million City National Bank construction loan for the developer. “Nationally, we have been involved in and continue to see an increase in construction financing deals, and Miami is no different,” Rice tells GlobeSt.com. “South Beach is an active development market with healthy investment activity. As this development is unique in South Beach, it is no surprise that it was an attractive investment opportunity. With a growing population, Miami Beach and South Florida are clearly high on investors' list, as it ranked as a top 10 market in our recent 'Investor Intentions Survey.'”

Michael Comras of Comras Company is spearheading the leasing efforts. Ideal tenants would include service-based retailers, catering to the daily needs of the South Beach consumer. Uses would include a bank, nail salon and spa, dry cleaner, mattress store, telecom, dental, home and accessories along with a coffee café and quick service restaurant.

The retail building will be South Beach's first commercial LEED GOLD development. The retail building's base elevation has been raised to accept the future raising of the street and hosts a number of other sustainable features. The development consists of approximately 67,000 square feet of retail on three levels with 224 parking spaces. The Miami Beach submarket has a vacancy of only 4.8% and has had new deliveries totaling 80,000 square feet. in 2017, which represents only 1.1% of current inventory.

“Miami Beach has a retail market that is extremely supply constrained with exceptionally high barriers to entry for new development,” says Arden Karson, senior managing director of South Florida at CBRE. “For that reason, we're even more excited to having played a role in bringing the first Target to Miami Beach, a retailer that was long-anticipated among residents. South Beach development and investment activity has been more active lately. The modern design of BLVD at Lenox will seamlessly blend with the Art Deco and Miami Modern architecture that Miami Beach is known for.”

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Comras Secures $35M for Unique Miami Beach Retail Development

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