As lenders’ South Florida appetite grows, $100M construction loan sought for Echo Aventura

New York-based developers Property Markets Group and JDS Development Group have teamed up to raise $100 million in construction loans to build the 190-unit Echo Aventura condominium tower, Mortgage Observer Weekly reported, in the latest sign of lenders’ renewed appetite for condo construction in South Florida.

Mission Capital Advisors, which is representing the borrowers, is seeking a non-recourse loan with a three-year term and two one-year extensions, the trade magazine said.

Construction-loan lending revved back to life in South Florida last February, when a group of lenders led by Alabama-based Regions Financial Corp. bundled a $160 million construction loan for the Mansions at Acqualina in Sunny Isles Beach, a Trump Group affiliate project. The deal was the largest construction loan in the region since the housing market crashed in 2007.

Echo Aventura’s sales center broke ground Thursday, providing a glimpse of Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott’s conceptual tower, outfitted by Yabu Pushelberg. The condo will feature Apple smart home technology, summer kitchens, a 3,000-square-foot suspended bridge connecting two towers and 18 penthouses.

Property Markets Group and JD hope to cover between 50 and 60 percent of the $205 million cost of constructing Echo Aventura, Mortgage Observer Weekly reported.

Eighty units at Echo Aventura are under “hard contract,” PMG founder and principle Kevin Maloney was quoted as saying. [Mortgage Observer Weekly] –Emily Schmall