Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
In April 2015, a syndicate of four lenders — the Bank of China (BOC), Deutsche Bank, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CACIB), and an affiliate of Blackstone Inc. — entered into a $590 million USD syndicated construction loan agreement with Oak Plaza Associates (Del.) LLC — a Delaware-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) wholly-owned by Miami Design District Associates, LLC, a Delaware-incorporated joint venture partnership jointly owned by Miami-based real estate development company Dacra Development Corporation and Luxembourg-based global real estate private equity firm L Real Estate as lead shareholders (together, a 80% stake) and Chicago-based commercial real estate firm General Growth Properties, Inc. and New York City-headquartered private real estate investment firm Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation as minority shareholders (together, a 20% stake) — for the Miami Design District Development Project. This loan was divided into a $490 million USD senior mortgage loan and a $100 million USD mezzanine loan. The senior mortgage loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) a mortgage against the Miami Design District. BOC committed about $250 million USD, Deutsche Bank committed $138 million USD, and CACIB committed $102 million USD to the senior debt portion of loan syndicate, with an affiliate of Blackstone committing $100 million USD to the mezzanine portion of the loan. The proceeds were used to consolidate (refinance) two previous mortgages into a single $490 million USD construction loan, with the proceeds then to be used by the borrower to finance the Miami Design District, a 20-building retail luxury mega-development spanning an entire neighborhood north of downtown Miami, Florida; the district was to consist of over 120 luxury-brand stores (1.2 million square feet of retail space), as many as 20 restaurants, a boutique hotel, galleries, residential condominiums, and public art displays. The project had an equity value of $2.2 billion USD. By the end of 2014, fewer than 60 of the expected 120 stores were open for the district, with construction ongoing. In October 2014, General Growth and Ashkenazy acquired a 20% stake in the project from Darca and L Real Estate. As of April 2015, over a dozen buildings had been constructed with 50 retail brands (such as high-end fashion and jewelry companies Tom Ford, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Bulgari and Fendi) operating. The project was due for completion in 2016.