Canvas signs off on $70M loan, plans groundbreaking event

Canvas, the condominium tower planned for Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District, has signed off on its $70 million construction loan from Bank of the Ozarks, The Real Deal has learned.

NR Investments, developers of the 513-unit project, signed off on the loan on Tuesday, Ron Gottesman, co-founder and principal of NR Investments, told TRD. The funding had been in the works for months.

The 37-story project began construction two weeks ago and is now finalizing excavation. By the end of the week, work on pilings will begin, said NR Investments co-founder and principal Nir Shoshani. “So the 24-month process started last week.”

Canvas is planning a ground breaking ceremony on Feb. 23, with at least 350 guests, as a “celebration for the district,” he said.

Canvas, at 1630 Northeast First Avenue, is now 58 percent sold, with 298 units under contract, Gottesman said. Sales began in October 2014, and the project is now registered in New York.

So far, 50 percent of the buyers are domestic, mostly from New York, with some from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and even Hawaii. The other 50 percent is split between Europeans — from France, Germany, Spain and Italy, as well as Israel — and Latin Americans from Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil. Chinese buyers also bought 12 units, he said.

Canvas has received Fannie Mae approval, which allows qualified domestic buyers to put down as little as 5 percent.

“Our target is the end-user and this is why we insisted on the Fannie Mae approval and are refusing any bulk buyers,” Gottesman told TRD.

The tower is aimed at the “affordable luxury,” segment of the market, with prices ranging from $300,000 to $550,000. Units will range from 620 square feet to 1,150 square feet, and average $483 per square foot, the developers said.

The building, which will include a restaurant by Kevin Aoki — son of Benihana founder Rocky Aoki — is targeting the 30-to-45 year-old sub-market, they said. Fortune International Realty is the exclusive sales and marketing firm for the project.

The tower was designed by CFE Architects. NR Investments paid $7.2 million for 1.1-acre site, which it acquired through an October 2013 bankruptcy auction. The company also paid $4.8 million in impact fees in 2014.

Canvas’ amenities will include sunrise and sunset pools, a fitness center, glass-enclosed racquetball court, spa and sauna treatment rooms, business center, and children’s playroom and lab.

NR Investments last year filed an offering plan with the New York State Attorney General, so that condo units can be legally marketed and sold there. The total listed sell out price for the project is $221 million, according to the documents filed in New York.

Canvas is one of three properties NR Investments owns in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District, the former Omni area north of downtown. Shoshani and Gottesman developed the Filling Station Lofts, an 81-unit rental building at 657 North Miami Avenue. They also own a one-acre parcel between Northeast 14th and Northeast 15th Streets, on which they plan a mixed-use project including hotel, office and residential components.