Nuveen Acquires LaVida Lakefront Class-A Multifamily In Miami's Blue Lagoon For $98 Million

The Chicago-based global real estate investment management company Nuveen Real Estate has acquired LaVida for $98 million. LaVida is the first Class-A lakefront multifamily apartments within the prominent Blue Lagoon corporate park. The project was developed by Pinnacle and Ascend Properties, who were also the sellers. The sale of the 272-unit apartment breaks down to $360,294 per unit.

The Cushman & Wakefield team of Robert Given, Troy Ballard, Zachary Sackley, and Mike Mulkern led the marketing efforts and brokered the transaction.

Designed by Behar Font & Partners, LaVida, which opened in 2019, consists of two eight story residential buildings containing 272 units of one, two and three-bedroom homes ranging from 728 to 1,295 SF, each with an outdoor terrace, with top floors offering magnificent south-facing views of Downtown Coral Gables. The elegant apartment residences boast a warm, natural palette with custom details including porcelain flooring throughout, dramatic designer-inspired kitchens and bathrooms, quartz counter tops, energy star-rated appliances, and full-size stackable washer and dryer. Floor-to ceiling exterior doors provide incomparable sunrise, lake and downtown city views with balcony apartments overlooking the lake.

“With the increasing demand for luxury rentals in South Florida and many returning to work in the nearby Blue Lagoon offices, we determined this was the right time to sell,” said Richard Finkelstein and Michael Wohl, partners, Ascend Properties. “LaVida’s central location caters to working professionals and business travelers as well as those looking to live the luxurious Miami lifestyle without having to sacrifice easy access to everything Miami has to offer.”

Located at 6600 NW 7th Street, adjacent to the intersection of the Dolphin and Palmetto Expressways, LaVida offers a live/work option for the 12,000+ working professionals and corporate executives in Blue Lagoon and convenient access to Downtown Miami, Miami International Airport and Doral’s growing business center. LaVida features expansive city and lake views, luxurious design curated by Venus Williams’s V Starr Interiors and a two-story resort-style clubhouse and pool.

“With first-class units, high-quality amenities and a central Miami lakefront location, LaVida continues to transform the way professionals view the Blue Lagoon community,” said David O. Deutch, co-founder, Pinnacle. “The success of LaVida represents the strength of this unique luxury lakefront product in a corporate center in the growing South Florida market.”

Unparalleled community amenities include two covered garages; dog park; two-story lakefront clubhouse with grilling stations; oversized hourglass-shaped pool and jacuzzi with a resort-style sun deck and southern exposure making it the ideal pool experience with poolside cabanas and day beds; state-of-the-art fitness facility with yoga studio and group class space; gourmet coffee bar; media room; Wi-Fi in all common areas, and more.

“LaVida is a Class-A apartment deal, fully occupied, in a high barrier to entry market with access to major employment centers such as Waterford Business District, West Doral and Miami International Airport,” said Carlos Burneo, Senior Director and Florida Housing Sector Lead at Nuveen Real Estate. “South Florida’s continuous employment and population growth is a clear match to Nuveen Real Estate’s investment strategy. We are excited to continue expanding our investments in the Waterford – Blue Lagoon market.”

“The outstanding execution quality and strong operating performance of LaVida led to significant investor demand,” noted Robert Given. “We continue to see robust activity in the market throughout South Florida.”

Eyzenberg & Co. Secures $21.3 Million Loan For Weiss Group of Companies Kobi Karp-Designed Towers at Blue Lagoon

Weiss Group of Companies has secured $21.3 million in bridge financing for the Kobi Karp-designed Towers at Blue Lagoon, which will replace a previous loan and fund predevelopment costs. Weiss Group has owned the 7-acre site located near Miami International Airport since the 1970s. In March 2019, their proposed rezoning to Miami city commissioners that would raise the development site’s maximum building height from eight stories to 12 stories was approved. Phase one of the mixed-use project will include a total of 829 multi-family units in two 184,000-square-foot buildings. Unit floor plans will include studio, one-, two-, and three- bedrooms. Future plans for the development include two 147-room hotels, parking spaces, affordable, market-rate and workforce housing, and improved roads and pedestrian walkways.

Weiss Group secured the loan from a Canadian private lender, according to the president of Eyzenberg & Co. Eyzenberg and Robert Ginsberg, managing director of Eyzenberg & Co., assisted in arranging the loan on behalf of Weiss Group.

By Isabella Zimmermann

Commercial Real Estate Investment Bank Eyzenberg & Company Opens First Miami Office

The New York City-headquartered commercial real estate investment bank Eyzenberg & Company has expanded into Florida, opening a new office in Miami. It is the third location for Eyzenberg & Company, led by NYC dealmaker David Eyzenberg, as the firm continues to grow its capital solutions platform. Eyzenberg & Company recently closed a $21.3 million bridge financing deal on behalf of the Weiss Group of Companies to build a mixed-use multifamily and hotel project at the Blue Lagoon office complex near Miami International Airport.

“Florida is already a prominent market for us, with many existing clients operating in the state. Formalizing our presence here allows us to deepen our commitment to delivering our full platform of capital solutions to our current clients and to grow new relationships from our on-the-ground operation,” said David Eyzenberg, president of Eyzenberg & Company. “I have been doing business in Florida for 20 years, commuting back and forth for the past seven. The Southeast is a hotbed of development and investment activity and the new office will help us be more efficient as we continue to develop our presence here, while leveraging our established capital relationships in New York and Washington.”

Joining Eyzenberg as a director is Ronald Granite, who will be originating structuring and placing debt, equity and ground lease capital for commercial real estate transactions across the U.S. as well as supervising transaction execution. In a relocation from Chicago, Granite brings 14+ years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, working in capital markets, portfolio management, asset management, leasing and finance.

Since its founding in 2016, Eyzenberg & Company has become one of the fastest-growing real estate capital advisory firms in the U.S. Affiliated entities include Eyzenberg Ground Lease Capital, an institutionally backed private equity vehicle specializing in the creation and acquisition of leased fee positions, and Eyzenberg Green Capital, a joint venture with leading C-PACE firm, Greenworks Lending, providing proprietary capital solutions for commercial real estate transactions.

Eyzenberg also serves as an Adjunct Professor of commercial real estate finance at NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, who has also been hired by the University of Miami to teach commercial real estate finance in its business program.

Blue Lagoon Community Gets Much-Needed Rental Development Soleste and A New Name

The Estate Companies, a leading developer of luxury multi-family projects throughout South Florida, has secured its certificate of occupancy (CO) for Soleste Blue Lagoon, a luxury, eight-story development with 330 rental units located at 5375 NW 7th Street in Miami.

The project broke ground in 2017 and move-ins began in October. Because Soleste Blue Lagoon is the only Class A market-rate project in the Blue Lagoon community, home to over 100 multinational companies, it quickly achieved 65 percent lease-up. The Blue Lagoon office community also recently announced a $10 million makeover and name change. The 250-acre office park will rebrand itself as the Waterford Business District, in order to remain competitive with Miami’s growing office market.

Tenants can select from a variety of studios, one, two and three-bedroom units outfitted with sleek, modern kitchens with custom cabinets, quartz countertops and designer lighting, dual master suites, spacious walk-in closets and private balconies overlooking Blue Lagoon Lake. Pricing starts in the $1,500’s for studios, $2,100’s for two-bedrooms, and $2,600’s for three-bedrooms.

“We are proud to deliver this transformative development to the Blue Lagoon area,” stated Robert Suris, managing principal, The Estate Companies. “Our firm is committed to developing beautiful and highly-amenitized communities at a competitive price point. This winning combination makes Soleste Blue Lagoon an attractive and dynamic option for high-quality, professional tenants.”

Like all projects within the Soleste Living brand portfolio, Soleste Blue Lagoon is curated with a vast collection of health and wellness offerings and social components, including a lakeside pool with spa, sundeck and private cabanas, co-ed spa with steam room and sauna, aerial yoga studio, state-of-the-art health and fitness club, spinning room with digital fitness instruction, rooftop garden with life-size chess, hammock and yoga lawn, and an electric car charging station.

This milestone comes on the heels of the firm’s grand opening of Soleste Twenty2, a 338-unit rental community, which is also experiencing high velocities at the current price points.

The Estate Companies is on track to deliver an additional 519 units this year with Soleste Alameda and Soleste Bay Village and has an additional 2,196 units in its pipeline slated for delivery early next year. Notable upcoming projects include Soleste Bay Village, Soleste Grand Central and Soleste Spring Gardens, among others. Its project portfolio features a mix of garden-style, mid-rise and high-rise rental developments in Dade and Broward counties.

By Katya Demina