Chilean developer Claudio Fischer has secured a $65 million loan from Banco Santander for a development site in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. The financing is tied to a 1-acre assemblage at 68, 82 and 84 Southwest 13th Street and 1399 Southwest First Avenue. The property includes a three-story office building that was formerly occupied by the Mexican consulate, which relocated to Coral Gables in 2023.
Fischer’s plans call for demolishing the existing structure and constructing a 41-story residential tower with 544 units, about 9,400 square feet of retail space, and parking for 421 vehicles. Miami-Dade County approved the Arquitectonica-designed project last year. It is not yet specified whether the units will be apartments or condominiums.
Records show that an entity managed by Fischer purchased the site for $53 million in 2020. This would be Fischer’s first high-rise development; he is known as a spec home developer and founder of Sun Dreams, an operator of casino resorts in Latin America.
Despite these plans, Fischer is under contract to sell the site to Key International, based in Miami and led by brothers Inigo and Diego Ardid. A memorandum filed in public records confirms this agreement. The purchase and sale agreement serves as collateral for Banco Santander’s mortgage on the property. It remains unclear if the $65 million loan will fund construction of the planned tower. Both Fischer and representatives from Key International did not respond to requests for comment.
Key International manages approximately 6,000 residential units, around 3,000 hotel rooms, and holds $2 billion in assets according to its website.
In addition to this transaction, Key International has partnered with Coconut Grove-based firm 13th Floor Investments—led by Arnaud Karsenti—to develop a Nobu-branded condominium tower with 300 units on another Brickell site measuring about 2.2 acres. The partnership also secured a $79.2 million construction loan last November for Skye, a planned apartment complex with 327 units within Parks at Delray mixed-use project in Delray Beach.
