Mill Creek nabs $39M construction loan for Modera Douglas Station’s second phase

UPDATED July 6 6:56 p.m.: Mill Creek is chugging along at its upcoming apartment community near the Miami Metrorail’s Douglas Road Station.

The multifamily developer just nabbed $39.4 million in financing for the second phase of its Modera Douglas Station and has a filed notice with the county that it’s breaking ground.

County records show HSBC Bank agreed to lend Mill Creek the funds it needed for Modera Douglas Station’s second phase, which includes 181 units in an eight-story building at 3900 Bird Road.

The first phase, which broke ground across the street in 2014, has 262 units and is expected to start receiving tenants as soon as July 31, according to the complex’s Facebook page.

Mill Creek purchased the roughly one-acre development site where it’s building Modera Douglas Station’s second phase in June 2015 for $10 million.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Mill Creek is a multifamily developer that builds apartment complexes in major markets throughout the U.S. The company recently filed plans to build a 300-unit community in Plantation, and traded one of its properties in Boca Raton for nearly $71 million.

The South Florida multifamily market has been hot for the first half of 2016. So far, more than $4 billion worth of rental properties have been traded in the region, with many of those being location in suburban markets.

As 13th Floor Investment’s Vice President Nicole Shiman recently told The Real Deal, communities built near suburban mass-transit options like Douglas Station are becoming increasingly attractive to both investors and tenants in recent years. They typically have lower rents than complexes in urban cores, while also offering connectivity to major shopping and eating districts like Brickell.