CBRE lands $16M loan for West Kendall retail project

A unit of commercial real estate brokerage CBRE arranged a $16 million loan to finance development of a retail center in West Kendall.

CBRE Capital Markets arranged the loan from Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T) for Gertz Builders and Developers Inc. to finance its development of a 53,185-square-foot retail development called The Pointe at Kendall Town Center.

A three-member CBRE team secured the BB&T loan: vice chairman Christian Lee, senior vice president José Lobón and vice president Amy Julian.

“The Kendall retail submarket is thriving with a 97 percent occupancy rate,”  Julian said in a prepared statement. “The Pointe at Kendall Town Center has completed remarkable pre-leasing and has a tremendous interest list for the project.”

The Pointe at Kendall Town Center will have seven single-tenant buildings, ranging in size from 3,200 to 7,200 square feet, and a multi-tenant building spanning 14,000 square feet.

The development site is the southwest corner of Southwest 88 Street and Southeast 162 Avenue in West Kendall. Residential property developers have been active in the vicinity surrounding the site, opening more than 1,500  new residences within one mile since 2014.

CBRE previously worked with Gertz Builders and Developers on its April 2016 sale of the Southern Palm Crossing Retail Center in Royal Palm Beach. [Commercial Property Executive]  — Mike Seemuth