WPB trades affordable housing to investment firm for $8M

The West Palm Beach Housing Authority just sold a rent-regulated apartment complex to a Chicago investment firm for $7.8 million.

Dubbed Royal Poinciana Place, the community has 144 units and is located at 5500 North Haverhill Road near the Palm Beach Lakes Community High School.

The city’s housing authority paid $2.7 million — or about $18,750 per unit — to purchase Royal Poinciana three years ago, according to Palm Beach County records. Units at Royal range from 756 square feet to 1,102 square feet. Its tag line is “live the good life… affordably.”

Now, the public agency has sold the complex for roughly $54,166 per unit to an affiliate of Chicago’s Lakeside Capital Advisors. The real estate firm primarily invests in workforce housing. Many of their deals include apartments that were built using the federal Housing Tax Credit program, according to Lakeside’s website.

Berkadia brokered the deal, according to Tal Frydman, senior director.

Royal is encumbered by a land-use agreement between its original developer and the Florida Housing Finance Corp. The original agreement called for 80 percent of the building’s units to be set aside for “very low income” residents for 50 years. It was dated 1995, so that leaves about 21 years left in the restriction.

Real estate experts have called West Palm’s lack of affordable housing troubling. Median home prices have steadily risen in the coastal city, while median household incomes have struggled to keep up.