Veranda Holdings scores loan for townhomes near Homestead

A Coral Gables-based company just scored a construction loan to build a townhouse development in south Miami-Dade County.

Pacific National Bank is providing $5.1 million loan for Veranda Holdings LLC. Veranda, a Delaware company led by Luis Machado, also filed a notice of commencement for 37 townhouses in seven buildings on the site at Southwest 240th Street and Southwest 110th Court, according to property records. Machado is president of Renegade Investments in Coral Gables. Gestido Construction is the contractor.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools owns the adjacent 10-acre vacant lot on 240th Street. Veranda Holdings acquired the townhouse site in 2015.

Homebuilders are increasingly buying land and planning new home communities in South Dade facing a dwindling supply of undeveloped land and rising land prices. The increasing cost of single-family homes near the urban core is also pushing potential homebuyers farther south to cities like Homestead.

Last year, Lennar Corp. paid $9.5 million for about 32 acres at 11406 Southwest 248th Street. In 2017, Lennar also spent $10.75 million for about 77 acres in Homestead, just west of the Turnpike along Mowry Drive and Southwest 152nd Avenue.