L&L and Oak Row Score $215M to Build 1M-SF Wynwood Campus
Former Softbank exec Marcel Claure is a partner and tenant in the project
By Julia Echikson January 20, 2023 2:15 pm
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A massive development is getting underway in Miami’s Wynwood district.
L&L Holding Company and Oak Row Equities secured a $215 million construction loan from Bank OZK (OZK) for The Wynwood Plaza, a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use campus, the joint venture announced.
Newmark (NMRK)‘s Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub also arranged $150 million of equity for the transaction.
The development, designed by Gensler, will include a 12-story office building totaling 266,000 square feet, 509 luxury rental apartments and 32,000 square feet of retail, plus a 26,000-square-foot public plaza — hence the name. Construction began this week and is slated to end in 2025.
The office component has already nabbed two tenants, each taking about a floor. Law firm Weitz & Luxenberg is set to occupy 18,000 square feet. Marcelo Claure, former COO of conglomerate Softbank, will open a 25,400-square-foot headquarters for his newest venture, investment firm Claure Group.
Claure’s company is also a partner in the Wynwood Plaza. Softbank was initially in talks to both lease and take equity in the project, but those talks now appear to have fizzled. Claure, a longtime Miami-area resident, left Softbank last year because of a dispute over his compensation package. The executive wanted $2 billion. A representative for the Wynwood development declined to comment about Softbank.
Shorenstein Properties, too, is joining as a partner in the Wynwood Plaza. The San Francisco-based investor sold the office complex 2 and 3 MiamiCentral for $230 million to Blackstone in 2021, in one of Miami’s first major post-COVID deals.
“With a fast-growing population and a business-friendly environment that continues to drive a significant number of corporate expansions and relocations … Florida, and the Miami metro region in particular, is an attractive market for long-term investment,” Matt Knisely, managing director at Shorenstein, said in a statement.
L&L, a major player in New York real estate, and Oak Row, formerly known as Carpe Real Estate Partners, spent about $53 million on the 3-acre site, part of which previously housed the Rubell Museum.
Newmark’s Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub represented L&L and Oak Row in capitalizing the project, while Scott Wadler and Michael Basinski of Berkadia arranged the Bank OZK financing.
Other sizable mixed-use projects underway in Wynwood include the Related Group’s two-building complex, which broke ground late last year after securing a $117 million construction loan, also from Bank OZK. The Miami-based developer, along with Tricera Capital and Lndmark Development, completed The Dorsey, a 12-story building with 306 apartments and 70,000 square feet of office space, earlier this month.
In nearby Edgewater, Oak Row is developing a mixed-use tower with Related Companies as an equity partner. The Miami-based developer with Lndmrk Development bought a 1.5-acre site for $22.5 million, where they plan to build a luxury rental building.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
