Gatsby Florida Lands $118.6M Loan for Spec Office in PBG
The loan is the clearest go/no-go signal yet on underwriting spec office in Palm Beach County: a lender priced $118.6 million on a building with zero pre-leasing.
Gatsby Florida has closed a $118.6 million construction loan from Cirrus Real Estate Partners for The Palm, a roughly 200,000-square-foot Class A office tower breaking ground this month in Palm Beach Gardens with no tenants signed. The three-year, floating-rate, interest-only loan funds one of the largest fully speculative office builds to reach construction in the market, a bet that Palm Beach County’s office fundamentals can absorb new supply before a lease is inked.
Why it matters
For developers weighing a spec office build anywhere in South Florida, this loan is the market’s clearest go/no-go signal in months. Cirrus underwrote three years of floating-rate, interest-only debt against a building carrying zero pre-leasing, at a basis that starts with a $17.5 million land buy in 2022. That combination, a name lender, a sizable check and an interest-only structure with no leasing contingency, tells any developer with a Palm Beach Gardens site on the shelf that construction lenders are still willing to fund spec office at scale, provided the sponsor and the location clear their bar.
The numbers
The loan totals $118.6 million on a three-year floating-rate, interest-only structure. The Palm, at 11200 RCA Center Drive, will bring about 200,000 square feet of Class A office, 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and an 838-space parking garage across eight stories. Gatsby Florida bought the five-acre site in 2022 for $17.5 million. Berkadia’s Charles Foschini, Scott Wadler and Shannon Wilson arranged the debt.
What’s next
Construction started this month with completion targeted for 2028, giving Gatsby roughly two years to sign tenants before the building delivers empty into a market that has not tested a spec office tower of this size in some time. The site sits along State Road 811 between Interstate 95 and the Legacy Place open-air mall, putting the leasing pitch squarely on access and retail-adjacent amenity rather than a pre-committed anchor. Every additional signed lease between now and delivery will move the risk read on this loan, and on the next spec office proposal in Palm Beach County.