Terra Secures $245M Permanent Refinance From Slate Property Group for Upland Park Apartments in Sweetwater
David Martin's Terra has closed a $245 million permanent refinancing for Upland Park, a 578-unit garden-style apartment complex it completed this summer in Sweetwater, Florida, as South Florida's multifamily leasing market begins to rebalance after several years of oversupply.
New York-based Slate Property Group provided the permanent loan, which retires the $170 million construction loan Terra secured from Scale Lending, Slate's debt affiliate. The financing breaks down to approximately $423,875 per unit.
Deal Structure and Property Details
Upland Park's first phase sits on a 47-acre site at 1455 Northwest 121st Avenue in Sweetwater, on land Terra leases from Miami-Dade County. The property is positioned adjacent to Miami-Dade County's Dolphin Station Park & Ride Transit Terminal and near the Dolphin Expressway/State Road 836, giving residents direct access to regional transit and highway infrastructure.
The floating-rate loan runs through September 2027 and includes two six-month extension options, a structure that provides flexibility to complete lease-up and navigate the current interest-rate environment.
Phase I consists of studios and one- to three-bedroom apartments, including some with dens, ranging from 700 to 1,528 square feet. Monthly rents start in the $2,000s. More than 60 percent of the apartments were leased as of the announcement.
A Phased, Transit-Oriented Development
The completed first phase represents the opening chapter of a project planned at roughly $1 billion in total scope. Construction of a second phase, comprising 484 units, is expected to begin this year. Future phases are also planned to include commercial spaces and retail.
Terra's approach at Upland Park reflects a deliberate bet on garden-style multifamily housing near public transit nodes in suburban Miami-Dade. The county land-lease structure lowers upfront land costs, while the proximity to Dolphin Station positions the complex as a commuter-oriented rental option for West Miami-Dade residents.
The $423,875-per-unit loan sizing reflects both elevated South Florida construction costs and lender confidence in long-term rent and occupancy performance at a transit-adjacent location. Slate Property Group's continued involvement — first through Scale Lending on the construction side, now as the permanent lender — underscores the programmatic relationship between the two firms on large-scale, phased developments.
Market Context: Supply and Demand Rebalancing
The refinancing closes at a pivotal moment for South Florida's apartment market. Developers completed a record 18,600 units in 2024, pushing leasing well behind deliveries for three consecutive years. In the 12-month period ending in the second quarter of 2026, however, new leasing reached 13,774 units, surpassing the 12,751 units completed — the first time in three years that demand edged past supply, according to CoStar Group.
That equilibrium remains fragile. A pipeline of nearly 28,000 units is expected to open late next year, raising the prospect that leasing could again fall behind supply. Despite that uncertainty, developer and lender activity has not slowed materially across the region.
Recent transactions illustrate the continued appetite for new multifamily construction. LCOR is developing a 544-unit luxury tower in Edgewater after securing a $192.5 million construction loan in July. Acre secured $123 million to build the six-story, 337-unit Adela II complex in the MiMo Biscayne Boulevard Historic District, and Evolve Companies landed $48.5 million for the eight-story, 141-unit Evolve Wynwood 35 project in Wynwood Norte.
Terra's Broader South Florida Activity
Upland Park is one of several large-scale projects Terra and David Martin have been advancing across South Florida. Terra and AB Asset Management secured $410 million in construction financing for The Well Coconut Grove, a wellness-branded mixed-use project targeted to open at the end of 2028. Earlier in 2026, Terra also closed a $291 million refinance on a mixed-use project near Little Havana, continuing a pattern of transitioning projects from construction debt into longer-term structures as they approach stabilization.
Taken together, the activity positions Terra as an institutional-scale sponsor with established relationships among debt capital providers willing to finance large, phased, transit-oriented developments through lease-up risk.