Knighthead Lends $63M or Doral, Fla., Industrial Portfolio Buy 

Midtown Capital Partners has sealed $62.92 million of acquisition financing to fund its purchase of 13 urban-infill, small-bay industrial assets in Doral, Fla., Commercial Observer has learned.

Knighthead Funding provided the loan for Midtown’s $86 million off-market acquisition of the 290,000-square-foot portfolio spanning 13.33 acres, according to the lender. Midtown purchased the properties from Wes Realty in August at a near-record industrial sales price for Miami-Dade County, The Real Deal previously reported.

The 13 properties were developed and assembled over the last 30 years, according to Knighthead, which originated the deal with a team led by Jonathan Daniel, Alexandra Wiggins and Joseph Marraccini. 

“This transaction epitomizes what we look for when financing a deal — an attractive collection of assets with significant upside in an excellent infill location,” Wiggins, vice president at Knighthead Funding, said in a statement. 

The properties, which are located west of Miami within a mile of Miami International Airport, benefit from strong demand for small-bay industrial properties in South Florida, where vacancy rates are below 3 percent, according to Knighthead. 

Arrow Real Estate Advisors arranged the debt with a team consisting of Morris Betesh, Morris Dabbah and Zach Strauss. 

“Urban-infill portfolios like this come around once in a lifetime,” Betesh, founder and managing partner at Arrow, said in a statement. “We’ve seen the small-bay industrial sector mature significantly over the last several years, and this acquisition, along with the capital markets’ reception to the transaction, is another indication of how increasingly institutional the asset class has become.” 

Midtown Capital Partners did not immediately return a request for comment.

Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.