Crescent Heights has secured a $238.4 million refinancing for the Forma Miami apartment tower, a 588-unit luxury property located at 2900 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood. The financing comes amid continued lending activity in South Florida’s multifamily sector, despite higher interest rates.
The developer, led by Russell Galbut, Sonny Kahn, and Bruce Menin, completed the 40-story tower last year. The building features 85,000 square feet of amenities and includes a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market.
The refinancing was arranged through Freddie Mac’s Lease-up program and facilitated by Walker & Dunlop. Aaron Appel and Jonathan Schwartz were among the Walker & Dunlop representatives for Crescent Heights. The Lease-up program is designed for multifamily properties that are close to but have not yet reached stabilization—typically defined as having more than 90 percent of units leased.
Michael Stepniewski of Walker & Dunlop stated that while Forma Miami is now stabilized, it had not reached that status when Crescent Heights first applied for the refinancing. According to Galbut, the tower is currently 97 percent leased.
Forma Miami was designed by Rockwell Group and Arquitectonica and offers studios as well as one- to three-bedroom apartments with finishes comparable to condominiums. According to Apartments.com, rents range from $3,080 to $7,515 per month.
Crescent Heights also owns nine acres adjacent to Forma Miami and plans to develop the area into a city center.
Other recent refinancings in South Florida include Treo Group’s $132 million deal for its Vox I and II student housing campus in South Miami and Midtown Capital’s $57 million bridge loan for the Astor Sound apartment complex in Lake Worth Beach. In August, Acre obtained $72 million to refinance Adela at MiMo Bay in Miami’s MiMo Biscayne Boulevard Historic District.
South Florida’s multifamily market is currently facing an oversupply after a surge in construction during the pandemic era. An influx of new residents led to record rent growth and increased development activity. In 2023 alone, developers completed about 18,600 new apartments in the region while only 15,000 net new leases were signed—a trend documented by CoStar Group—which has resulted in lower rents and more concessions for tenants.
Despite these conditions, developers continue to launch new projects with expectations that demand will rebound by the time buildings are finished next year or in 2027. Projects underway include Oak Row Equities’ 324-unit development at Northeast 29th Street and Northeast Fourth Avenue in Edgewater and a $125 million construction loan secured by Miami Design District Associates for the Cassi apartment project on Northeast 36th Street.
