Miami Design District Owners Land $125M to Build Mixed-Use Building

A joint venture led by the owners of the Miami Design District has secured $125 million in debt to add a mixed-use building designed by world-renowned Snøhetta within the luxury, open-air mall, property records show.

French bank Crédit Agricole, representing a group of lenders, supplied the construction loan for the 120,000-square-foot Sweetbird North development, which will be covered in a stainless-steel veil housing 22,500 square feet of ground-floor retail and office space on the top floors.

Located at 95 Northeast 40th Street, the eight-story project will sit across from the Alo and Alice and Olivia boutiques and abut the Museum Garage. The 0.3-acre site has long remained vacant, housing retail pop-ups and food carts. 

New York-based private equity firm Raycliff Capital is a sponsor of Sweetbird North alongside the original backers of the 18-block mall, Miami Design District Associates: Miami-based developer Craig Robins, LVMH-backed L Catterton Real Estate and Bernard Arnault’s family office. 

The financing comes as the Design District, home to Chanel and Hermes stores, is set to further expand. 

The same set of sponsors is developing a 25-story condo tower and a 12-story hotel, branded by luxury hotel Fouquet’s and designed by Pritzker Prize winner David Chipperfield, which has yet to break ground. Facing I-95, another 20-story, 107-unit tower remains under construction after Miami Design District Associates and other partners secured a $125 million construction loan last year. 

Close by, a Kengo Kuma-designed development with a San Ambroeus restaurant broke ground in June after landing $85 million in debt.  

A representative for Robins’s Dacra did not immediately respond to a request comment.

Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.