Kenco nabs $20M loan for upcoming Lantana mixed-use project

The partnership planning a new 73-acre, mixed-use project in Lantana called Water Tower Commons just scored a $20 million loan to pay for site preparation work ahead of groundbreaking.

County records show Kenco Communities and Wexford Capital, acting through an affiliate, took out the loan against their sprawling development site at 1199 Lantana Road. The lender was Florida Community Bank.

The two developers are planning a massive mixed-use project there with 275,000 square feet of retail space and 1,091 garden-style apartments. Its name stems from a non-functional water tower serving as a landmark at the site’s center.

Lantana officials granted site approvals for the project’s retail portion in December 2015, though approvals for the apartments are still pending.

Michael Langolf, vice president of the development, told The Real Deal that the loan will be used for what he called “horizontal work” on the site — clearing land and installing utilities, which is necessary before vertical construction can begin.

No tenants have been announced so far, though the developers are hoping to bring in a grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants, bank and fitness center.

Groundbreaking is expected between the second and third quarters of 2017, he said, with completion for the retail section slated for early 2018.

The project is being built over Lantana’s former A.G. Holley Hospital, which was purchased from the state of Florida by Kenco for $15.6 million in 2014. The developers later sued the state, demanding a $1.29 million refund because the state had exaggerated the land’s size at 79.2 acres.