T
erra, a Coconut Grove-based developer led by David Martin, has secured a $170 million construction loan to kickstart the first phase of its $1 billion mixed-use project near Sweetwater's Dolphin Mall. The 578-unit apartment community will be built on a 47-acre site owned by Miami-Dade County and is part of a larger public-private partnership to develop Upland Park, which will eventually feature over 2,000 apartments and 696,000 square feet of commercial space.

    The financing for the project's first phase was provided by Scale Lending, an affiliate of Slate Property Group. Keith Kurland and Jonathan Schwartz of Walker & Dunlop arranged the loan on behalf of Terra. Upland Park will be connected to Dolphin Station, a Miami-Dade transit terminal that offers bus routes to downtown Miami, Sweetwater, and Doral.

    The project is being designed by PPK Architects in collaboration with Arquitectonia and Plusurbia Design. In 2021, the Miami-Dade County Commission approved the deal with Terra, which previously secured a $35 million pre-development loan from Dolphin KS Finance in 2022. Terra has also recently completed Grove Central, another transit-oriented mixed-use project adjacent to the Coconut Grove Metrorail Station.

    Terra is set to partner with Atlantic Pacific Companies and Sterling Bay on Metrocenter, a $10 billion public-private partnership project involving 17 acres of county-owned land in downtown Miami. The joint venture will compete against two other development teams for the project's bid, which is expected to be issued in the coming months.