Alta Developers lands $140.2M construction loan for Fort Lauderdale tower

Alta Developers secured a $140.2 million construction loan for Alta New River, a 400-unit rental tower in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with JVP Management as administrative agent. The 35-story building at 100 Southwest Sixth Street sits east of the Brightline tracks and about two blocks south of the New River.

JVP assumed a loan carrying $10.4 million of outstanding debt and increased it by $129.8 million, according to Commercial Observer, which cited mortgage documents.

Construction started last week with Kaufman Lynn Construction as general contractor and is scheduled to finish in the fourth quarter of 2028. The building will hold 400 apartments averaging about 840 square feet and a nine-story parking garage.

For allocators underwriting South Florida construction exposure, the loan sets a per-unit benchmark of about $350,500 against average city rent of $2,250 a month, according to Apartments.com. The $129.8 million of new money is secured by a building that broke ground last week, so lenders carry construction risk until the fourth quarter of 2028.

Fort Lauderdale rents have held steady over the past year, according to Apartments.com. The city's multifamily pipeline includes Dependable Equities' two-tower complex and Grover Corlew's project next to the Citrix headquarters, which secured a $92 million construction financing package. Grover Corlew bought 200 East Broward in Fort Lauderdale for $69.7 million in October, as Private Wealth Daily previously reported.

Alta, led by Raimundo Onetto, develops residential projects across South Florida. Last month it completed the Casa Bella Residences by B&B Italia condo tower in Miami with Related Group and secured a $60 million construction loan for a 308-unit development at the southern end of Miami-Dade County. Alta paid $20.8 million in 2022 for the 1-acre Alta New River site, or about $52,000 per planned unit.