Interest Picks Up in South Florida Multifamily as 3 Properties Trade

Three South Florida multifamily properties changed hands, led by the $67.5 million sale of a downtown Fort Lauderdale apartment building.

Two affiliates of Hialeah-based multifamily manager Jenco Properties bought Aviah Flagler Village from an affiliate of Chicago-based apartment investor AMLI Residential. The deal closed Tuesday, and the property was rebranded with the Aviah name from the previous AMLI Flagler Village.

Jenco Properties is led by company president Mark Kravit. Jenco is dividing ownership between its affiliate Sunrise Hamlet LLC, which acquired just over 68%, and Continental Gardens LLC, which acquired a little less than 32%, according to the Broward County deed.

The sale of the 218-unit building breaks down to $309,748 per unit. The address at 440 NE Fourth Ave. is west of The Edge by Common at Flagler Village apartments.

The Aviah midrise sits on 3 acres in the heart of Fort Lauderdale’s trendy Flagler Village, which has been redeveloped with new multifamily buildings, hotels and edgy retailers in a neighborhood once dominated by rundown warehouses.

The building was developed in 2009, and AMLI Residential bought it two years later for $58.25 million from BlackRock Realty Advisors Inc. in New York for a 16% gain on a nine-year hold.

Also in Broward, the St. Croix apartment complex in Lauderdale Lakes traded for $16.9 million.

An affiliate of Hollywood-based affordable housing developer Cornerstone Residential Management LLC sold St. Croix to an affiliate of Utah-based real estate developer and manager Peak Capital Partners on Monday.

St. Croix was developed in 2004 on 11 acres at 4075-4201 NW 34th St. The trade of the 246-unit, multibuilding property breaks down to $68,783 per unit.

Farther north in West Palm Beach, the Malibu Bay apartment complex traded for $38 million.

An affiliate of affordable housing developer Housing Trust Group, based in Miami, sold the complex to an affiliate of Lincoln Avenue Capital, based in Santa Monica, California, on Aug. 28. Lincoln Avenue is an affordable housing owner, developer and investor.

Malibu Bay was developed in 2005 on 13 acres at 750 Malibu Bay Dr. southeast of Interstate 95 and Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. At least some of its units are designated affordable housing. The sale of the 264-unit property was worth $143,939 per unit.

The three transactions come on the heels of another notable South Florida multifamily sale. In Miami, 28-story Hamilton on the Bay tower and two adjacent lots sold for nearly $90 million. An affiliate of the Arison family sold the property to Denver-based Aimco, one of the nation’s biggest apartment investors. The tower traded for $80.96 million, and the two lots for a collective $8.64 million.

The late Ted Arison, founder of Doral-based Carnival Cruise Line, developed Hamilton on the Bay in 1984 in the trendy Edgewater neighborhood.

The transactions could be a sign of multifamily resilience in the face of the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Rent collections exceeded what was expected once the pandemic set in, and 92% of U.S. apartment households made their August payments, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council.