Lincoln scores $103M construction loan for Doral apartments

With interest rates poised to continue rising, Lincoln Property Company pulled the trigger on a major construction loan for its planned multifamily project in Doral.

The Dallas-based firm secured a $102.9 million loan to build apartments on 3.4 acres at 3450 Northwest 85th Court, the last vacant site at the Park Square at Doral mixed-use development. Santander Bank acted as administrative agent for a group of lenders that provided the financing, records show.

The property is approved for a 14-story project with 291 apartments, according to media reports.

Jorge Pérez’s Related Group and Masoud Shojaee’s Shoma Group built most of the 52-acre Park Square at Doral, one of several mixed-use projects in the city, whose rapid population growth has been accompanied by a commercial real estate boom.

Coral Gables-based Shoma completed the One Park Square office and retail building at 3470 Northwest 82nd Avenue in 2010 and sold it in 2017 for $96 million.

Shoma and Related worked on the rest of Park Square, completing single-family communities and apartment projects. The pair also partnered with PGIM Real Estate on the Manor rental complex, selling it for $135 million in 2017, and on the two-building The Flats rentals, which sold for $100 million in 2020.

Lincoln, which builds both residential and commercial projects, bought its piece of Park Square for $16 million in December. Tim Byrne leads the firm’s residential division.

Lincoln secured the construction financing at a dubious time. While borrowing costs have increased amid the Federal Reserve’s push to fight inflation by hiking interest rates, South Florida’s multifamily market remains robust, fueling continued development.

South Florida’s rental increases have cooled after the region led the nation in hikes, but at $2,590, median rents in the region were still up 13 percent year over year as of last month, according to Realtor.com.

Other multifamily builders have managed to secure construction financing in the region this month. Cymbal DLT Companies scored $31 million for two planned apartment towers along downtown Fort Lauderdale’s New River at 408 Southwest Fourth Street and 403 Southwest Third Avenue. And AMAC and ROVR Development nabbed $41 million in financing for an eight-story, 180-unit project at 4465 Griffin Road in Hollywood.