MG Developer is teaming up with a New York-based real estate investment firm to build a $204 million luxury apartment project near Coconut Grove and Coral Gables.
Coral Gables-based MG and its partner, Baron Property Group, plan to build two towers with 450 apartments with parking, along with shops and restaurants on a 43,785-square-foot redevelopment site at 3898 Shipping Avenue, according to a press release. The retail component will be about 18,000 square feet.
An MG affiliate recently closed on the property, paying $19.5 million. MG and Baron worked with a Colliers team led by Jeffrey Donnelly and Dmitry Levkov to raise $24 million for the project that includes $13 million in equity financing from New York-based S3 Capital, the release states.
In an emailed response, MG CEO Alirio Torrealba said Baron Property Group was exploring opportunities in South Florida. “When we met, we had a great synergy,” Torrealba said. “We felt this project was the right fit for us to work together.”
Baron has a 20-year track record of developing high-rise multifamily projects and hotel properties in New York City and in California, the release states.
The Shipping Avenue property, on the border between Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, currently houses a small commercial building leased to an auto dealership. The project site is also near The Shops of Merrick Park.
The joint venture recently submitted plans to the city of Miami, and the partnership expects to break ground on Merrick Parc in the third quarter of 2023, Torrealba said. The plan would replace a city approved proposal by the previous owner to build a pair of 20-story buildings with 268 apartments, 29,000 square feet of offices, 6,342 square feet of ground-floor retail and a 288-space parking garage. That project was called Merrick Towers.
Designed by Coral Gables-based architecture firm Behar Font & Partners, Merrick Parc joins a slate of mixed-use projects along and near U.S. 1 between Coral Gables and Coconut Grove.
Across the street from Merrick Parc, AvalonBay Communities and Coconut Grove-based Mast Capital are developing a 20-story building with 254 apartments, a handful of two-story townhouses on the ground floor, 825 square feet of commercial/retail space, a 319-space parking garage, and more than 10,000 square feet of amenities.
13th Floor Investments and Adler Group are building The Link at Douglas, a 7-acre mixed-use project next to Miami-Dade County’s Douglas Road Metrorail station at 3100 Douglas Road.
And last year, Life Time and developer Nolan Reynolds International completed Life Time Coral Gables, a $500 million project at 237 South Dixie Highway with 495 luxury apartments, an 80,000-square-foot athletic resort, a 25,000-square-foot coworking space, and ground-floor retail space.