Trending
Fifield, PGIM score $67M construction loan for Wynwood apartments
Eight-story building will be built near FECR tracks
Updated, March 27, 2:05 p.m.
Fifield Companies and PGIM Real Estate scored a $66.9 million construction loan for an apartment project in Wynwood.
The planned eight-story building is slated for 1.4 acres at 45 Northeast 27th Street, at the southwest corner of Northeast 28th Street and the Florida East Coast Railway tracks, a Fifield representative previously told The Real Deal. Branded as Wynwood Station for its proximity to a planned passenger train stop, the project will have 210 units and roughly 11,000 square feet of retail.
Fifield and PGIM boosted a $14 million mortgage secured last year, which has a $13.7 million outstanding balance, by $53.2 million, according to records. CIBC Bank USA, First Bank Chicago and Republic Bank are the lenders.
Chicago-based Fifield owns the site. It paid $19.5 million for it early last year, shortly after the Wynwood Design Review Committee approved the project in December 2021.
Fifield, founded by CEO Steve Fifield, has developed $7 billion worth of projects encompassing 21 million square feet, including 13,000 residential units, according to its website.
In Chicago, the firm scored a $177 million refinancing last year for the 492-unit 727 Madison apartment tower. At 45 stories, it is the tallest building west of the Kennedy Expressway.
PGIM, based in Newark, New Jersey, is led by CEO Eric Adler. It had $208 billion of assets under management as of December, according to its website. It’s been an active real estate investor and developer in South Florida.
In November, PGIM scooped up the Publix-anchored Monarch Town Center at 12503-12681 Miramar Parkway in Miramar for $61.5 million.
That deal came a year and a half after PGIM and Stiles, a family owned and led firm, scored a $64.2 million construction loan for the 315-unit The Ellsworth apartment building in Plantation. The eight-story project at 1301 Southwest 80th Terrace was completed last year and recently opened.
Wynwood emerged roughly a decade ago as an art gallery center, and is now undergoing further redevelopment with apartments, offices and hotels. It also could get a passenger train station, with preliminary plans for the stop to open between Northeast 26th and 27th streets.
For years, Miami-Dade County officials have pushed to create a commuter rail line along the FECR tracks that would expand the existing Brightline service. The train now connects the downtowns of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, and recently opened stations in Ojus and Boca Raton.
In January, L&L Holding Company, Oak Row Equities, Shorenstein Properties and Marcelo Claure’s Miami-based Claure Group scored a $215 million construction loan for Wynwood Plaza. They have started building the 1 million-square-foot project that will include offices, apartments and retail at 95 Northwest 29th Street in Miami.
Despite the recent Wynwood financing activity, South Florida is generally experiencing a slowdown of commercial real estate construction. As some developers continue to pursue projects, many others have hit the brakes on getting financing and pursuing construction because of high interest rates and expensive labor and materials.