Miami Worldcenter nabs construction loan for retail component

Miami Worldcenter Associates just closed a $43 million construction loan for the retail and parking component of the massive mixed-use project under construction in downtown Miami.

The loan, provided by Fifth Third Bank, brings the project’s total financing up to about $500 million, according to a spokesperson. It’s being used for 53,000 square feet of retail space and a 1,100-space parking garage on Northeast Second Avenue between Eighth and Tenth streets.

Miami Worldcenter developers Nitin Motwani and Art Falcone, along with Taubman Centers and Forbes, are working on leasing the 360,000-square-foot high-street retail component.

The $1.2 billion project will include the 562-unit Paramount Miami Worldcenter condo tower,  the Seventh Street Apartments, a 1,700-room Marriott Marquis Miami Worldcenter Hotel & Expo, and a 600,000-square-foot office tower.

In October, the developers secured nearly $33 million in financing from Bank of the Ozarks. Earlier in 2017, the project’s community development district announced it issued private placement bonds that will fund $74 million of infrastructure upgrades for the project. And Paramount Ventures, which includes developer Dan Kodsi, Falcone and Motwani, closed on $285 million in construction financing for Paramount in March. – Katherine Kallergis