Daniel Abreu scored a $16.5 million construction loan for an 80-unit apartment building near North Miami, marking one of the first Live Local Act project financings.
Abreu plans a six-story building on a 1.9-acre vacant site at 13650 Northeast Second Court in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, according to the lender’s news release. Ocean Bank provided the construction financing.
Guillermo Molina of Ocean Bank represented the bank in the deal.
The project, called Delmas North Apartments, will consist of 30 one-bedroom units, 30 two-bedroom units and 20 three-bedroom units. Apartments will range from 557 square feet to 1,051 square feet, according to the release. Delmas North also will have 141 parking spaces in a garage and on a surface parking lot.
Abreu, through an affiliate, paid $675,000 for the development site last year, records show.
The Live Local Act, a state law approved last year, grants developers major tax breaks and allows them to build bigger projects than permitted under county and municipal zonings. In exchange, developers have to designate at least 40 percent of their projects’ units for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. The apartments have to remain affordable for at least 30 years.
After state lawmakers tweaked the Live Local Act this year to also give developers wiggle room on floor area ratio restrictions, developers have filed a torrent of new proposals. While many have jumped on the state law with plans for towers across South Florida, most are still in the planning and approval stages.
Abreu’s Delmas North is one of the first Live Local Act projects in South Florida to secure construction financing. Live Local Act experts have argued that smaller projects are more feasible under the state law, as opposed to big projects with multiple high-rises.
Others betting on the state law include Spanish developer Pablo Castro and his local business partner, Laura Tauber. The pair propose a 3,233-unit apartment complex with six towers, ranging in height from 26 stories to 37 stories, at 8400 Northwest 25th Avenue in the West Little River neighborhood of unincorporated Miami-Dade County.
Also, shopping plaza investor Raanan Katz filed an application in June for three eight-story buildings with 995 apartments and 55 rental townhouses at 3655 Southwest 22nd Street in Miami. The project would redevelop South Florida’s last remaining Sears store.