In today’s commercial real estate market, foresight plays a key role when finding the right opportunity. The ability to envision what can be done with that initial investment is crucial—especially when it comes to profiting in this highly competitive landscape. Of course, when trying to finance this opportunity with traditional lenders, foresight takes a back seat to the current value. It doesn’t matter how intricate your future plans are, banks always live in the present. Their main concern revolves around the income a property is generating now. The prime reason more and more borrowers are partnering with private lenders, like the ones who share in the ability to foresee the value of a property such as Silver Arch Capital Partners.
Never has this been more self-evident than with their Miami waterfront project. A situation in which the borrower, Apeiron Miami, LLC, a partnership headed by the Ritz Carlton Group along with broker NGKF Capital Markets were seeking a two-year loan to build on an undeveloped portion of the once famed Jockey Club located on Biscayne Bay at 1111 Biscayne Blvd. Originally this iconic destination had three existing condominium buildings, Jockey Club 1, 2 and 3, that were developed in the 1970s and ’80s. Part of the site that still remained offered picturesque Miami views—an optimum setting for redevelopment. Miami has also been experiencing a resurgence in tourism and rebounding in migration, which has been expanding to retail—creating additional jobs from that trend. As a result, the construction of condominium high-rises have been in increasingly high demand.
Again, instead of looking at the current property value, Silver Arch Capital Partners took all of these factors into account when it came to evaluating the potential benefits of this type of opportunity.
Jeffrey Wolfer, President, and CEO of Silver Arch Capital Partners, summed it up best by saying, “We definitely feel honored to be part of the team to help bring a project of this magnitude to life. By partnering with all of these seasoned experts in development, hospitality, and management, we are in a prime position to execute their vision”.
Silver Arch Capital Partners was able to procure a $21 million land loan to fund an intricate 2-phase mixed-use master plan that eventually brought the Jockey Club back to its former glory. Phase one of this proposal included a state-of-the-art 41-story tower that houses 120 well-appointed residential condominium units and a 90-room hotel with a restaurant, fitness center, and luxury amenities. This plan also includes a 417-space, two-story parking structure and reconstruction of an adjacent 38-slip marina. The second phase of the project included a residential condominium building with a total of 120 units and a 346-space parking structure.
This Miami waterfront project is just one of many prime examples of the pivotal role knowledgeable private lenders play when it comes to the growth of the commercial real estate economy. In the case of the Jockey Club, Silver Arch Capital Partners ability to obtain the funds to bring this project to life helped open the door to future development opportunities in this once overlooked corner of the Miami market.
