Vlad Doronin, partners score $243M loan for Edgewater tower

Russian billionaire Vlad Doronin’s OKO Group and its partners scored a $243.3 million construction loan for its Missoni Baia condo tower in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood.

OKO Group, Oleg Baybakov’s OB Group and Cain International secured the loan for the 57-story, 249-unit luxury development at 777 Northeast 26th Terrace from Security Benefit Life Insurance Corporation. The project launched sales in the spring of 2016 and broke ground the following year.

Missoni Baia is being designed by New York-based Asymptote Architecture, led by Hani Rashid and Lise Ann Couture, a firm known for such projects as the Yas Hotel Abu Dhabi that straddles a Formula One racetrack. It also designed the Hermitage Modern Contemporary Museum in Moscow.

Missoni Baia will be the Italian fashion brand’s first residential project and is part of a broader trend of developers tying luxury brands to developments, such as the Porsche Design Tower and the Residences by Armani Casa in Sunny Isles Beach.

This is the second big loan OKO Group secured in recent months. In July, OKO Group with joint venture partner Cain International received a $300 million loan from MSD Partners, the private investment firm of Dell Technologies billionaire Michael Dell, for a 57-story, 724-foot-tall office tower planned for 888 Southeast Brickell Plaza in Brickell.

Doronin’s OKO Group has completed over 70 residential and commercial projects, including Moscow’s 85-story OKO Tower.

Missoni Baia is being built at a time when Miami’s luxury condo market is struggling due to a large supply of condos, weakened economies in South America and a strong dollar. There is a reported five-year oversupply of luxury condo buildings in the Greater Downtown Miami area, according to the Miami real estate consultancy Condo Vultures. The supply has driven down resale prices, which has led to fewer condo groundbreakings in Miami over the past two years.