Nicholas DeSiato is chief financial officer at Rosemurgy Properties in Boca Raton. Courtesy photo

The construction of the suburban residential and retail Uptown Boca project just got a $125.65 million boost.

Three Boca Raton-based companies and their equity partner developing the project secured the construction loan March 6.

The 1 million-square-foot Uptown Boca is being built on 38 acres at 9536 Glades Road east of U.S. 441. It is to have 171,000-square-feet of retail spread across eight buildings and 456 apartments in seven mid-rise buildings. The retail portion on Glades Road is to be finished by year's end. The multifamily portion is set for completion early next year,

“This parcel is one of the last undeveloped parcels on Glades Road, which is a main retail thoroughfare in the Boca Raton community. It provides a significant amount of land to be able to develop the type of project we are interested in providing the community,” said Nicholas DeSiato, chief financial officer at Rosemurgy Properties.

Rosemurgy is developing the project along with Giles Capital Group and Schmier Property Group as well as equity partner Wheelock Street Capital, based in both Boston and Greenwich, Connecticut.

The loan came from Jutland Finance Inc., based in British Columbia, Canada, a subsidiary of British Columbia Investment Management Corp.

DeSiato declined to give the loan term and interest rate or say how much of the construction cost it covers. This is the only loan obtained by the developers for Uptown Boca, he said.

Much of the hype in recent years in South Florida's real estate community has focused on redevelopment in the urban core as a live-work-play setting. Yet some developers have opted for suburban mixed-use projects offering residences, offices and retail in one place. Examples include Downtown Doral, Plantation Walk and Sunrise's Metropica.

Uptown Boca fits this trend minus the office space, DeSiato said.

“There's plenty of jobs in the area. But certainly the live and play,” he said. “It's a relatively dense area for a suburb. So to have a center that provides as much entertainment and activities for the community is valuable. And for the multifamily residents to be able to walk to a theater and a grocer, to have these retail uses that close is going to be valuable for them.”

Boulder, Colorado-based Lucky's Market, which is known for organic and fresh offerings, has committed as an anchor tenant. Also confirmed are Silverspot Cinema and Bolay, BurgerFi and Chick-fil-A restaurants.

Uptown Boca is filling some of the pent-up demand for homes in the area, DeSiato said. Rents haven't been released.

Glades Road is a major east-west thoroughfare, and the location about two miles west of Florida's Turnpike will give residents easy access to other parts of Palm Beach County and Broward County.

“It's a good location for people to commute to other areas in South Florida,” he said. “People want to be in those locations because it provides easy access to East Boca and all the job markets in the area.”

The development team worked to build a project that fits in the community. For one, there won't be any high-rises.

“All the retail is single story on the front side of the project, I believe, with the exception of the theater, which will have a mezzanine inside it. The multifamily is all mid-rise buildings. It fits more the need of the community to have the traditional multifamily project not stacked on top of the retail,” DeSiato said.