Developer Secures 80 Million Construction Loan

By Armie Margaret Lee
Ten Museum Park, a 50-story mixed-use development on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, received a financing boost this week through an $80 million construction loan from Mellon United National Bank.

Developer Gregg Covin said the financing package for the project was sealed Monday after eight months of negotiations.

It was the second time Gregg Covin Real Estate Development received financing from Mellon, said Mr. Covin. The company earlier scored a $10 million loan for the Montclair Lofts project in South Beach.

"We’re happy to continue our relationship with Mellon Bank. It ensures the success and completion of Ten Museum Park," Mr. Covin said.

The total project cost for Ten Museum Park, 1040 Biscayne Blvd., is estimated at $110 million.

"We’ve been self-funding the project up until this point," Mr. Covin said. "We’re now on the ninth floor."

Ten Museum Park will include 200 condos, all of which are sold, he said. It also will have 10,000 square feet of retail space and 20,000 square feet of office space.

Mr. Covin said he is negotiating with a "major national restaurant" to occupy the ground floor and "do a 24-hour fine-dining cafÈ." He declined to name the potential tenant.

"We’re also going to have a 100-foot plaza in front of Ten Museum Park," he said. "It’s really going to bring street life to Biscayne Boulevard."

The Chad Oppenheim-designed tower is slated for completion in fall 2006.

Mr. Covin is redeveloping the Angler’s Hotel on South Beach, set to be finished by October 2006.

"I’m trying to finish all these projects by the time we have the Super Bowl in Miami in January 2007," he said, "It’s such a big thing."