Matrix To Start $89M South of Fifth Condos in Q1 2006

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MIAMI-BR Villa Louisa LLC, a partnership between locally based Matrix Development and Design and New York City-based Blue Rock Real Estate, has obtained $73 million in floating-rate financing for construction of South of Fifth. It is a 28-unit condominium that spans three adjoining lots at 135 Ocean Dr. in the trendy South Beach SOFI neighborhood from which it takes its name. Building permits are expected in January or February.

Horsham, PA-based GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corp. provided the funding. Robert Lipson and John Motzel, VPs in GMACCM’s Red Bank, NJ loan origination office, arranged the transaction. The financing package incorporated a bridge component “that will convert to a construction loan, once building permits are issued and the pre-sale requirements are met,” Lipson says. He says the project is 50% pre-sold and expects the 80% pre-sale requirement to be met by February. Lipson tells GlobeSt.com the funding package represents an 82% loan-to-cost ratio, putting the development cost at just over $89 million.

South of Fifth will span three parcels on the beach at 121, 125 and 135 Ocean Dr. The existing Atlantic Vue Towers is being demolished, and the three-story facades of Villa Luisa and Seacrest Apartments, now on the land and considered to have historical architectural value, will be retained for the seven-story conjoined South of Fifth building.

Units in the new condo project range in size from 1,300 sf to 5,940 sf. Pricing for units ranges from just more than $1 million to $9 million, and the highest price unit still available costs $4 million, according to Lipson. Locally based Majestic Properties is handling the sales and marketing.