JPMorgan Leads $1.11B Financing for Mercedes-Benz Places Miami

A roughly $1.11 billion financing package has been lined up for Mercedes-Benz Places Miami, the Brickell tower at 140 SW 11th Street, according to Commercial Observer. The deal has not closed: term sheets are signed, and closing is expected by year end.

Why it matters

The package is the largest construction financing lined up for a Miami project this year that we have tracked, and it puts a top-tier bank behind a branded residential tower. JPMorgan is leading with an $860 million construction loan. Developers JDS Development and Fontainebleau Development, led by Jeffrey Soffer, are partnering to advance the project. Walker & Dunlop arranged the financing.

The detail other developers will notice is the C-PACE. Nuveen Green Capital is providing roughly $250 million of Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy financing, close to a quarter of the capital stack. C-PACE is repaid through a property assessment, not as traditional mortgage debt, and it is a way to add long-dated capital beside a senior construction loan.

The numbers

• $1.11 billion total financing package
• $860 million JPMorgan-led construction loan, about 77% of the package
• Roughly $250 million C-PACE from Nuveen Green Capital, about 23%
• 67 stories, 791 luxury condos and a 174-key hotel
• 200,000 square feet of office space and 130,000 square feet of amenities, plus a garage and park

Term sheets do not bind a lender the way a recorded mortgage does. Until the loan documents close, the amounts and structure can still change.

What’s next

Watch for a recorded mortgage and any C-PACE assessment filing with the Miami-Dade Clerk once the deal closes. We have asked for the appraiser folio and owner entity for the site, and we will update this story when those records are pulled.

If it closes on schedule, expect lenders and developers to read it as a signal of appetite for branded residential in South Florida, and to copy the C-PACE layer on their own towers.