UPDATED, April 15, 1:40 p.m.: Weiss Group of Companies scored $21.3 million in bridge financing to build a mixed-use, multifamily and hotel project at the Blue Lagoon office complex near Miami International Airport.
The financing will replace an existing bridge loan and fund predevelopment costs for the Kobi Karp-designed Towers at Blue Lagoon at 4865 Northwest 7th Street. The development will include 882 apartments, as well as two hotels, one with 247 rooms and another with 186 rooms, according to a Caroline Weiss, CEO of the Weiss Group of Companies.
Weiss Group secured the loan from a Canadian private lender, said David Eyzenberg, president of Eyzenberg & Co., a New York-based commercial real estate investment bank that recently opened an office in Miami. Robert Ginsberg, managing director of Eyzenberg & Co., structured and arranged the fixed-rate loan on behalf of the Weiss Group.
Phase one of the project will include a two-building, 368,000-square-foot, 428-unit multifamily development of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, according to a press release.
Miami-based Weiss Group of Companies, led by Weiss, has owned the land since the 1970s. In March 2019, Weiss Group secured approval from the Miami commission to raise the development site’s maximum building height from eight to 16 stories.
The development will also feature parking, affordable, workforce and market-rate housing, as well as improved roads and pedestrian walkways, according to the release.
The Blue Lagoon office park is home to large corporations, including Burger King, FedEx and Airbus.
Correction: A previous version of this story had incorrect figures for the number of apartments, hotel rooms and the maximum building height.