NP International scores $158M construction loan for mixed-use Gables project

NP International just closed on a $158.4 million construction loan for its mixed-use Gables Station development, property records show.

Bank of the Ozarks is the lender.

Developer Brent Reynolds plans to break ground on the Coral Gables project before the end of the first quarter, he said. Construction is expected to take about 30 months.

Records reveal the developer also inked a lease for about 90,000 square feet of retail space with LTF Lease Company, led by Life Time Fitness executive Parham Javaheri. The Chanhassen, Minnesota-based health and fitness company has 128 locations in 36 markets in the U.S. and Canada, according to its website.

Reynolds declined to comment on the tenant, and a spokesperson for LTF could not immediately be reached for comment.

In all, Gables Station will feature three towers with about 120,000 square feet of lifestyle-oriented retail space, 500 residential units that include 66 furnished extended-stay hotel units, and open green space.

NP International paid more than $60 million for the 4.3-acre site at 251 South Dixie Highway in 2016. Developer Jeff Berkowitz, who previously planned to build a big-box retail building on the site, sold the property.

Also in 2016, Reynolds’ company secured approvals from the city of Coral Gables for a transit-oriented mixed-use project at the site. NP International agreed at the time to provide public benefits that include funding a portion of the Underline linear park and trail, ground level landscaping, funding the purchase of a trolley and its operating costs, and incorporating Bahamian building design.

Gables Station is one of two developments NP International is building on U.S. 1 in the Gables. Demolition of the Paseo de la Riviera site, which is slated to become an apartment and hotel development, is nearly completed. NP International secured $95 million in construction financing for that project in August.