Banks Combine on $99M Loan for Apartment Tower at Miami Metrorail Stop

A multi-tower development that will build out the area around Miami’s Douglas Road Metrorail station got a $99 million boost.

The 7-acre Link at Douglas Road project obtained financing for construction of a 36-story, 421-unit apartment tower that will include 17,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

Miami-based joint venture developers 13th Floor Investments LLC and Adler Group LLC secured the loan from Banco Santander SA and TD Bank NA on Jan. 22.

The loan, which covers over half of the construction cost, is timed to the construction period plus an extension allowing for building stabilization. The interest rate wasn’t disclosed.

“Link at Douglas will set a standard for urban living by catering to Miami-Dade’s evolving residents, who are looking for ways to avoid road congestion through public transit while seeking a more connected lifestyle,” Jonathan Raiffe, chief operating officer at Adler Group, said in a news release.

The Link will extend north and south of the Metrorail tracks at Douglas Road with development so far focused on the north side. It’s a transit-oriented project, one of the latest real estate trends catering to residents who want to live near mass transit to avoid driving to work and entertainment.

Already underway, a 22-story apartment tower with 312 units and 6,000 square feet of retail is set for completion in 2021.

The second Arquitectonica-designed tower just started and is to be completed in 2022. In addition, a public plaza will connect to The Underline, which will turn the space under the Metrorail tracks into a 10-mile linear park from downtown Miami to South Miami. The Link project ties into Metrorail and bus lines.

More buildings are to follow, but Daryl Shevin, chief financial officer at 13th Floor, said plans aren’t concrete. News media reported plans for five Link buildings.

Adler and 13th Floor won a Miami-Dade County competitive solicitation for the project. The site is in Miami, but Miami-Dade controls development regulations on sites adjacent to stations and allows taller and denser construction.

As the landlord, the county has a long-term lease with the joint venture. As part of the project, the joint venture is responsible for $17 million worth of infrastructure improvements, including changes at the Metrorail station.

“We are not tearing the station down and changing the layout of it. It’s many improvements and beautification,” Shevin said. “In terms of the roads and the access points, we did move the busways to facilitate the flow of traffic.”

The size of the project, the intricacies of the county lease and the many players made for a complex loan transaction, Shevin said. Yet it still wasn’t hard to close the deal.

“It was a massive undertaking. It was not difficult, but it was very complex,” he said.

Case in point: Loan calls had on average 32 people on the line. “The rollcall took like 12 minutes,” Shevin joked.

He credits the professionalism and diligence of the parties for making a complex deal run smoothly.

The developers and lenders also have a history of working together on the first apartment tower at the Link and on another 13th Floor-Adler project. The joint venture last April completed the 294-unit Motion at Dadeland transit-oriented apartment complex next to South Miami’s Dadeland North Metrorail stop.

“The group as a collective was very comfortable with each other and enjoyed doing business together and has a mutual trust and respect. This was not a deal that was widely marketed in the respect of looking for lenders. We didn’t go out in the debt markets. We went right back to the same lenders that we had done two deals with,” Shevin said. ”It was an instant partnership for a deal that wasn’t difficult but was complex.”