REIT scores $12M construction loan for Medley warehouse

Three months after picking up nearly 10 acres of vacant land in Medley, the Ridge Property Trust is gearing up to begin work on its spec warehouse development with a $12.43 million construction loan.

Ridge, a private real estate investment trust based in Chicago, first acquired the 9.75-acre development site in July for $5.3 million. As The Real Deal reported at the time, Ridge was planning to build 182,057-square-foot distribution center with 32-foot ceilings, 72 trailer drops, 46 dock-high doors and two street dock ramps.

The land is split into three relatively even chunks at 9001, 9051 and 9101 Northwest 87th Avenue. It will be built under Ridge Development, a partnership between Ridge Property Trust and the Transwestern Development Company.

Ridge’s financing deal closed Tuesday, with funds issued by JPMorgan Chase Bank. Mortgage documents show the developer is planning a slightly smaller project: 181,420 square feet, a difference of 637 square feet.

So far, no notices of commencement for construction work have been recorded in Miami-Dade County. That means Ridge has not yet broken ground.

Transwestern, a private real estate firm with offices around the country, represented Ridge for the land deal and has stayed on to lease the space when it’s completed sometime next summer.

Medley, a small township northwest of the Miami International Airport, is known for its industrial market. The municipality has roughly 1,100 residents, but its business centers bring in roughly 60,000 people during the day. Industrial vacancy rates in Medley are some of the lowest in the county, reporting only 3.3 percent of its 25.8 million-square-foot inventory was empty during the second quarter of this year.