Mr. Tom Duncan

AZTEC DEALS: Aztec Group Inc President Tom Duncan and Managing Director Christian J. Johannsen announced that they have secured $22.5 million in financing for three buildings known as the Las Ramblas complex along Lincoln Road at Lincoln Lane in Miami Beach.
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Mr. Duncan said the structures have a combined 235,000 square feet of retail and office space.The loan was placed on behalf of borrower Las Ramblas Associates Ltd., an affiliate of The Dacra Cos.

Had the seller owned the garage and land, the price might have been about $104 million, Tom Duncan, president of Aztec Group, which brokered, told the Daily Business Review at the time.

The building's value continues to be hampered by the city's control of the parking facility and the land, Duncan said Monday.He said the building, which sold in June of last year for $87 million, should have fetched more.

"You have to pay rent on air rights and have a ground lease that is a deductor and an additional operating expense," Duncan said.

Because the city's motivation to do the deal is not driven by the bottom line, it can be more flexible with the terms of the contract."If the city owns the land, they don't have to charge a ground rent that is commiserate with the value," Duncan said.

Aztec president Tom Duncan, and managing directors Michael Stein and Lang Baumgarten arranged the transaction.

"Fremont filled a very special need that most lending institutions could not, and that was that we needed a non-recourse construction loan," says Tom Duncan of Aztec Group, which worked with Constructa on the project.

"We also had a project that was very much an in-fill location but lacked substantial pre-leasing from major tenants," Duncan adds.