Developer scores financing for West Kendall affordable housing project

Housing Trust Group closed on financing for a $25 million affordable housing community in West Kendall.

HTG secured $21.6 million in financing for Paradise Lakes Apartments, a garden-style complex at 8905 Southwest 169th Court in Miami. That includes $14.5 million in 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit Equity from City Real Estate Advisors; a $5.5 million loan from KeyBank; and $1.6 million in soft financing from Miami-Dade County. Soft financing provides concessions to borrowers, like below-market interest rates and long repayment periods.

The three-story, 76-unit building is expected to be delivered in April 2021. Preleasing would start at the end of this year, with monthly rents ranging from $401 to $1,443. The units will be set aside for residents earning between 30 percent and 80 percent of the area’s median income.

Paradise Lakes Apartments will have 56 one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments, and 20 two-bedroom, two-bathroom units, all ranging from 688 square feet to 1,108 square feet. The three-story building will include 11,388 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

The building will have a clubroom with a kitchen and lounge seating, a fitness center, computer room, community garden, smart storage lockers, electric car charging stations and bicycle storage. It’s being designed and built by Modis Architects, HSQ Engineers and Gomez Construction Co.

The developer paid $2.8 million for the 2.7-acre property in March 2019. Altis at Kendall Square LLC, an affiliate of the Altman Companies, sold the site to HTG. The property is next to Altis at Kendall Square, a luxury apartment community developed by Altman.

Last month, HTG closed on $25 million in financing for Village View, a new senior affordable housing development in Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village.

Housing Trust Group has five affordable housing projects in Miami-Dade, including Courtside Apartments in Overtown with retired NBA player Alonzo Mourning, and Wagner Creek in the Miami Health District. The developer is also expected to build an affordable housing apartment building for seniors next to Williams Park in Overtown, called Father Marquess-Barry Apartments.

The company, led by president and CEO Matthew Rieger, has more than 7,000 affordable and market-rate apartments in Florida, Georgia, Texas and Arizona, plus another 2,000 units in the pipeline.