Before a crane goes up on a Miami-Dade site, somebody records a single page in the county’s official records. Under section 713.13 of the Florida Statutes it names the owner, the general contractor, the surety and the amount of any payment bond, and the construction lender funding the work. It has to be filed before work begins, it becomes void if improvement does not start within ninety days, and unless the notice states otherwise it loses its effect against subsequent purchasers and creditors one year after recording.
That page costs nothing to pull and can provide useful information about the parties and financing behind a development. Eric McNeil works across pre-construction real estate opportunities in the Miami to Palm Beach corridor and has developed relationships with luxury developers throughout South Florida. His approach treats public records and project fundamentals as part of the evaluation process rather than as confirmation of a decision already made. A rendering is a marketing document. A recorded instrument is a fact with a date on it.
The record speaks before the sales gallery does
Entitlement risk is the part outsiders assume is settled and practitioners assume is not. A project that has been announced has not necessarily been approved, and a project that has been approved has not necessarily been approved at the height on the rendering. In this county the constraint is often federal rather than municipal. Any proposed structure that meets the notice criteria under Part 77 of the federal aviation regulations has to be filed with the Federal Aviation Administration on Form 7460-1 for obstruction evaluation, and the determination of no hazard that results normally carries an expiration date eighteen months from issue, with any extension request filed at least fifteen days beforehand.
Eighteen months is a short life for a document that a fifty-storey tower depends on, and in a corridor sitting under approach paths for Miami International, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Opa-locka and Palm Beach International, it applies to a great deal of the pipeline. A determination that has lapsed while a sponsor assembled financing is a delay dressed as an approval, and it will not appear in any brochure.
The site’s neighbours deserve the same treatment. The first question about a parcel is not what is being built on it but what can legally be built beside it. A two-storey commercial building on the lot to the east is a development site that has not sold yet, and the water view in the rendering survives or does not survive on that basis.
The lender and the contractor are the two names that matter most
Who is funding construction says more about a project’s odds than the amenity deck does. South Florida’s construction lending has concentrated to an unusual degree: The Real Deal reported in January 2024 that Bank OZK was the lender behind roughly two-thirds of the largest construction loans closed in the preceding months, at a time when more than a billion dollars of financing had come through in a matter of weeks.
The terms attached to the money tell a second story. Reporting by the same publication in June 2025 set out how far alternative lenders had moved into the space, writing to loan-to-cost ratios of 75 to 80 percent where banks were closer to 50, at spreads of six to eight points over SOFR against three to four for a bank, and accepting debt service coverage of 1.2 where a bank wanted 1.3. Financing structure can provide useful context about a development’s capital position and the risks associated with its construction. Differences in leverage, borrowing costs and lender requirements are among the factors that may be considered when evaluating the overall structure of a project.
The contractor is the other name to check, and the check is a matter of permit records rather than reputation. The Real Deal’s October 2025 ranking of Miami general contractors, built from active permits and total project costs between August 2022 and August 2025, put Coastal Construction first at $858 million across 48 permits, Melo Group second at $380.5 million across 25, and John Moriarty and Associates third at $340.2 million across 65, noting that Moriarty had fallen from the previous year’s top position on a considerable drop in output. Delivering a tower through a stretch of rising materials and insurance costs is a harder test than delivering one in a calm year, and it is the more informative one.
A delivery quarter moves, and the reason matters more than the length
Pre-construction projects typically include estimated delivery timelines, and those timelines can change as construction progresses. McNeil’s approach is to consider the construction schedule, project status and potential timing changes as part of the broader evaluation of an opportunity.
Construction delays can result from permitting, material availability, subcontractor scheduling and other project-specific factors. A delay alone does not necessarily indicate that a development is experiencing financial distress, which is why McNeil’s approach considers timing alongside the broader facts surrounding the project.
The trouble is that a sponsor under real pressure and a sponsor running a few quarters late say the same thing to buyers, and both of them say it in the same tone.
Late and failing look different in the record
Two recent Miami cases show what the difference looks like on paper. Legacy Hotel and Residences at 903 NE First Avenue broke ground in August 2021 as a fifty-storey tower with 308 condominium units and 218 hotel rooms, backed by a $340 million construction loan from Silverstein Capital Partners recorded that December. Construction stopped in March 2024. Contractor liens totalling around $27 million were filed during the halt. Monarch Alternative Capital purchased the note in June 2025 and filed to foreclose on 2 July 2025, alleging missed payments from January and delinquent property taxes for two years, while the developer counterclaimed that the original lender had stopped funding the balance. Bisnow reported the exchange of suits in detail.
The second case runs earlier in the cycle. The Real Deal reported in April 2026 that Mercedes-Benz Places, JDS Development Group’s 800-unit two-tower project on Southwest 12th Street, faced foreclosure on roughly $100 million of site debt that had matured in January 2025, with interest running at more than $53,000 a day, while the sponsor pursued a construction package north of $700 million and described active discussions toward a resolution.
Neither of those is a delay. The markers are specific and each of them is public: liens recorded against the property, a construction note sold to a distressed buyer, a maturity passed without an extension, tax delinquency, and a site where the trades have gone home. A project that is late keeps paying its contractor. A project that is failing stops, and the county records it.
The consequence for strategic entry is that timing and structure are separate considerations. Earlier access may provide greater selection while also creating longer exposure to construction and market risk. Later participation may provide additional information about a project’s progress while offering fewer available options. Neither timing alone determines the quality of an opportunity.
Through McNeilX, McNeil’s relationship-driven approach remains concentrated on a select number of luxury real estate developments across the South Florida corridor. Developer relationships can create early and developer-direct access, but McNeil’s approach emphasizes evaluating the project, its capital structure, construction progress and broader fundamentals before determining whether an opportunity warrants further consideration. Access may create the opportunity to look earlier; underwriting determines whether the opportunity deserves a closer look.
This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security, and it is not investment, financial, legal or tax advice. Real estate and private market investments carry risk, including loss of principal, and nothing described here is a prediction of future results. Readers should consult their own licensed advisers before making any financial decision.
