Canvas nabs $75M construction loan, now converting to contracts

Renderings of Canvas (Credit: ArX Solutions)
Renderings of Canvas (Credit: ArX Solutions)

Canvas, a 513-unit condominium tower planned for Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District, has secured a $75 million construction loan and will begin converting reservations to contracts, The Real Deal has learned.

The proposed 37-story building is now 39 percent reserved, Ron Gottesman, co-founder and principal of Canvas developer NR Investments told TRD. He declined to name the project’s lender, because the closing is still pending.

Canvas, at 1630 Northeast First Avenue, is aimed at the “affordable luxury,” segment of the market, with prices averaging $475 per square foot. Units will range from about 600 square feet to 1,150 square feet, and average 850 square feet, said NR Investments co-founder and principal Nir Shoshani.

“Canvas is the most accessible product on a per-square-foot basis in Miami’s downtown Brickell area,” Shoshani told TRD. 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, the developers said, Fortune International Realty is the exclusive sales and marketing firm for the project.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Since sales began in October 2014, more than 200 units have been sold, with 40 percent to domestic buyers and 6 percent to Chinese buyers, Gottesman told TRD. Buyers also hail from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, France and Germany, he said.

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 earlier this year.

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.