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South Florida

Melo Group scores $99M refi for apartment tower north of downtown Miami

36-story, 425-unit building is 95% leased

Dr. Jose Luis Ferreira de Melo, Carlos Ferreira de Melo and Martin Ferreira de Melo of the Melo Group. (Melo Group, Miami Plaza)
Dr. Jose Luis Ferreira de Melo, Carlos Ferreira de Melo and Martin Ferreira de Melo of the Melo Group. (Melo Group, Miami Plaza)

Melo Group secured a $99 million refinancing for its recently completed Miami Plaza apartment tower, after reaching 95 percent occupancy.

Freddie Mac is the lender and Berkadia’s Miami office is the seller servicer for the 10-year, interest-only loan, according to a press release from Aztec Group. Peter Mekras, president of Miami-based Aztec, represented Melo in arranging the financing.

Melo completed the 36-story, 425-unit building at 1500 Northeast Miami Place last summer. Mekras said the refinancing was used to pay off the construction loan. The loan has a fixed rate of just over 3 percent.

Melo, led by Carlos Melo, Martin Melo and Jose Luis Melo, financed the construction of Miami Plaza with a $62.7 million loan that BB&T Bank provided in 2019. The tower has about 5,800 square feet of ground-floor retail space and is next to the Miami-Dade County School Board Metromover station.

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Mekras, who has arranged nearly a dozen loans for Melo, said there has been a “massive resurgence” in apartment leasing in Miami’s central business district since January, and that rental concessions are drying up. As a result, financing is increasingly available.

Miami Plaza is the fourth rental project that Miami-based Melo has completed in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District since 2016, totaling more than 2,300 units. The developer is also working on Downtown 5th, a luxury apartment development with 1,042 rental units in two 51-story towers at 55 Northeast Fifth Avenue.

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Melo also owns land at 24th Street and Biscayne Bay in Edgewater, where it is planning Island Bay, a multifamily development with two 60-story towers and 800 units.

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Melo GroupReal Estate FinanceRefinancing