Dive Brief:
- Cleveland-area developers Fairmount Properties and DiGeronimo Cos. have secured a $142 million construction loan for the $230 million suburban Pinecrest mixed-use development just outside the city, according to Commercial Property Executive.
- Capital markets services company HFF facilitated the deal for the 58-acre, 650,0000-square-foot Orange Village, OH, project, which will include 400,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, 75,000 square feet of Class A office space, almost 90 apartments and an AC Hotel by Marriott.
- The development — scheduled for completion in 2018 — has already secured a number of retail tenants, including Whole Foods, REI and Williams Sonoma, as well as three commercial lessees, according to Crain's Cleveland Business.
Dive Insight:
It's relatively easier for developers to obtain construction loans when they manage to prelease a significant portion of the space in these kinds of projects. Even in Miami, where the residential luxury market has cooled, there are still financing deals to be made if enough buyers demonstrate interest by entering into purchase agreements.
Pinecrest is also an example of a suburban development mimicking the urban, walkable lifestyle that is in such high demand. The live-work-play concept can take average properties and turn them into magnets for companies trying to draw younger workers to locations that don't have the automatic lure of a traditional downtown.
Texas developers are creating a similar yet larger community in Farmers Branch, TX, a suburb of Dallas. The 374-acre, $1 billion Mercer Crossing will include both for-rent and for-sale residential space and 92 acres of "urban commerce construction," all in the style of "Texas Tudor," which developers say will combine English Tudor design and contemporary Texas style.
The "$5 billion mile" in Frisco, TX, is another example of what can happen when developers plunk down several mixed-use developments into a low-key area outside a major metro. The former dove-hunting town of Frisco is the new home of the Dallas Cowboys' world headquarters and the team's Star in Frisco mixed-use complex, as well as the $1.5 billion Frisco Station.
That development seems to keep growing, with project officials last month announcing their plans to add a residential tower to the already planned 2,400 residential units, 40-acre medical complex, 650 hotel rooms and 300,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space.