Colombian fund manager closes on bundle of Lauderhill townhomes

Building Block Partners, a Colombian pension fund manager, has closed on six units at a newly completed townhome community, Cassa at Georgetown, in Broward County.

The $1.3 million investment marks the first in the United States for Building Block, managing director Juan Manuel de Pombo told The Real Deal. He said the units will create a reliable yield for the pension fund over several years. “The rent we will get from it is what we are looking for,” he told TRD.

The pension fund has been looking at investing in Florida for the past two years and has plans to invest with The Solution Group on a similar project. Building Block has roughly $500 million under management, de Pombo said.

For the second consecutive month, Colombia has led the world in consumers searching for South Florida real estate in January, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.

The 118-unit Cassa at Georgetown is located at 3593 Northwest 13th Street in Lauderhill. TSG Paragon Development completed the complex, which sold for an average of $165 per square foot, according to a press release. The joint venture is between The Solution Group and Paragon Group.

Camilo Lopez, CEO and managing partner of The Solution Group, said the development sold to a majority of investors renting out their units to blue collar workers such as police officers and teachers. It had an expected sellout of $30 million. “I wish I could build another community like this, but the price of land is too expensive,” Lopez told TRD in February.

Rents range from about $1,350 to $1,700 a month and units are sized between 1,300 square feet and 1,400 square feet.

Compass Bank bought out the development site in 2010 for $7.4 million. TSG Paragon later bought the project and began building Cassa at Georgetown, which was designed by architect Carlos Ponce de Leon. The Solution Group is also developing Ofizzina, a luxury office condo tower in Coral Gables, and recently topped off Cassa Brickell.