Crescent Heights scored a $238.4 million refinancing for the luxury 588-unit Forma Miami apartment tower in Edgewater.
The deal marks a continuing lending flurry in South Florida, despite elevated interest rates.
Crescent Heights –– led by Russell Galbut, Sonny Kahn and Bruce Menin –– completed the 40-story Forma at 2900 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami last year, according to records. It includes 85,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities and a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market.
The fixed-rate refinancing was provided via Freddie Mac’s Lease-up program, according to a Walker & Dunlop news release. Aaron Appel and Jonathan Schwartz were part of the Walker & Dunlop team that represented Crescent Heights.
The Freddie Mac Lease-up program targets multifamily properties that are approaching stabilization, but haven’t achieved it yet. Generally, more than 90 percent of units have to be leased for a property to be considered stabilized.
Forma is already stabilized, but wasn’t when it initially applied for the refinancing, according to Walker & Dunlop’s Michael Stepniewski, who also represented Crescent Heights.
Galbut said the tower is 97 percent leased.
Designed by Rockwell Group and Arquitectonica, Forma offers studios and one- to three-bedroom units with condo level finishes, the Walker & Dunlop news release says. Apartments.com shows monthly rents range from $3,080 to $7,515.
Crescent Heights owns 9 acres of properties next to Forma that it plans to develop into a city center, the release says.
In other recent refinancings, Treo Group scored $132 million this month for its two-building Vox I and II student housing campus with 262 units, combined, at 7025 and 7175 Southwest 59th Avenue in South Miami. Midtown Capital scored a $57 million bridge loan last month for its 230-unit Astor Sound apartment complex that it’s developing at 2253 Keast Lane in Lake Worth Beach.
In August, Acre landed $72 million to refinance its 236-unit Adela at MiMo Bay at 6445 Northeast Seventh Avenue in Miami’s MiMo Biscayne Boulevard Historic District.
South Florida’s multifamily market is experiencing a supply overhang following a construction boom. A pandemic-era influx of out-of-staters fueled unprecedented demand and record rent growth, prompting developers to jump on new projects. Last year, they completed a record 18,600 apartments in South Florida, outpacing 15,000 net new leases signed, according to CoStar Group data. This led to lower rents and more concessions.
Developers still are starting new projects, arguing that by the time they complete their buildings next year and in 2027, demand will be restored.
Oak Row Equities is developing the 324-unit 2900 Terrace on the northeast corner of Northeast 29th Street and Northeast Fourth Avenue in Miami’s Edgewater. In the Miami Design District, Miami Design District Associates, which includes Craig Robins’ Dacra, Hunter Pasteur and The Forbes Company, scored a $125 million construction loan in June for the 107-unit Cassi apartment project at 91-93 Northeast 36th Street.
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