13th Floor, Barings Nab Link at Douglas Construction Loan

Developers locked in a $134 million construction loan for the final apartment tower at a mixed-use megaproject that’s been a decade in the making near a Miami Metrorail station.

Coconut Grove-based 13th Floor Investments and Charlotte, North Carolina-based Barings have started construction of the 37-story, 392-unit Crescendo at the Link at Douglas complex that’s near the Douglas Road Metrorail Station, at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Douglas Road, according to the developers’ news release. The Link at Douglas project is in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood and also near Coral Gables.

The group of lenders was led by Santander Bank, in partnership with TD Bank and First Horizon Bank.

The financing comes amid a multifamily supply overhang in South Florida that’s led to slower lease-ups, an increase in concessions and a decrease in rents. According to Realtor.com, the median asking rent for studios to two-bedroom units in the region hit $2,273 last month, or a 2.1 percent year-over-year decrease.

Renderings of Link at Douglas mixed-use project and of the Crescendo apartment tower (13th Floor Investments)

The 7-acre Link at Douglas got its first major green light a decade ago when Miami-Dade County commissioners approved leasing the county-owned land to 13th Floor and Adler Group.

Portions of the project have been completed over the past decade, with 13th Floor and Adler finishing the first phase in 2023 with the 22-story, 312-unit Core and 37-story, 421-unit Cascade apartment buildings, as well as more than 30,000 square feet of retail anchored by Milam’s Market. They also completed $17 million in public infrastructure improvements, including renovating the Metrorail stop and building a public plaza that connects to The Underline linear park.

Last year, 13th Floor and Barings scored $125 million in financing for the third tower, the 35-story, 432-unit Cadence. A syndicate of Santander Bank and TD Bank was the lender.

Cadence is under construction, and completion is expected in 2028, according to the release. Completion of Crescendo is expected in 2029.

Once fully built, Link at Douglas will have more than 1,500 residential units.

Adler Group isn’t involved in Cadence and Crescendo.

Barings, a subsidiary of MassMutual with a minority investment from MS&AD, is a global alternative asset manager with $481 billion of assets under management as of the first quarter, its website shows. It’s led by Mike Freno.

Barings has been a Link at Douglas partner from the project’s start, the release says.

13th Floor, which has completed several condo towers across Miami-Dade, has had a heightened focus in recent years on transit-oriented development done through public-private partnerships. The firm is led by Arnaud Karsenti.

Near the Boca Raton Tri-Rail passenger train station, 13th Floor and Rockpoint are developing a 340-unit multifamily project with 24,000 square feet of retail after landing a $100 million construction loan in February. 13th Floor leased the land from Tri-Rail’s parent, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority.

Next to the South Miami Metrorail Station, 13th Floor plans a pair of apartment buildings with 670 units, combined. The project will replace South Miami’s city hall and will include a new five-story municipal building.

South Florida’s multifamily oversupply is largely due to hefty new completions over the past half decade. Completions reached a record in 2024, with 18,600 new units delivered across the tri-county region, outpacing the 15,000 in net leasing, according to CoStar Group. The pipeline has eased some, though not entirely. Developers completed 12,718 apartments last year, still outpacing net leasing by about 300 units, CoStar data shows.

In the meantime, the influx of out-of-staters that initially created unprecedented rental demand in the first three years of the pandemic slowed, curbing demand.

Despite this, developers have jumped on new projects, saying demand will catch up to supply by the time they finish their projects. Many also insist they’re carefully selecting the submarket where they’re developing to ensure it’s not oversupplied.

In April, Acre scored $123 million to build the six-story, 337-unit Adela II complex in the MiMo Biscayne Boulevard Historic District, and Evolve Companies obtained $48.5 million to build the eight-story, 141-unit Evolve Wynwood 35 building in the Wynwood Norte neighborhood.

Hyperion Group landed a $108 million construction loan in March for the long-delayed 371-unit Ocean One apartment building in Boynton Beach. Silverstein Properties provided project equity.