Developer of new Design District building snags a $30M loan

Design Development Partners previously got a $28M bridge loan in June 2018

112 NE 41st Street, Ray Cleeman of Pensam Funding
112 NE 41st Street, Ray Cleeman of Pensam Funding

Benjamin Norton’s company scored a $30 million bridge loan to refinance and fund improvements to a new seven-story office and retail building in the Miami Design District.

Design Development Partners secured the loan from Miami-based Pensam Funding for its Design 41 project at 112 Northeast 41st Street. The loan will be used for tenant improvements and finishing touches on the space, according to Ray Cleeman of Pensam Funding.

The project was completed in 2018 and previously secured a $28 million bridge loan in June 2018 from Miami-based BridgeInvest.

Cleeman said some proceeds of the new loan were used to pay off that loan, while the remaining balance of the BridgeInvest loan will go to tenant improvements to attract the “right type of tenant.”

He said the landlord is marketing the office space to financial service firms such as hedge funds and arts and entertainment companies.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The first floor of the building will be retail, the second and third floors are parking, and the fourth through the seventh floors are office space.

Currently, two of the five retail spaces are leased to the perfume company Bond No. 9 and art dealer Inigo Philbrick. In the office portion, part of the fifth floor and the sixth floor are leased, according to Cleeman. Previous reports said that the rooftop of the building would be occupied by a restaurant from the same management company that owns Juvia, a Lincoln Road eatery. But Cleeman said no deal with a restaurant has been finalized.

The building totals 84,748 square feet and sits on a 15,788 square foot lot, records show.

Design 41 was designed by Mexican architect Enrique Norten. It broke ground in 2013, but was stalled due to lawsuits from the project’s former co-developer Asi Cymbal over the project’s financing. It eventually scored construction financing with a $24.3 million loan in 2016.

Pensam Funding is the lending arm of Pensam Residential, a privately owned real estate firm with a nationwide multifamily portfolio of about 35,000 units, according to a release.