W.P. Carey buys Broward prep school from U.K company for $69M

Aerial view of the North Broward Preparatory School campus
Aerial view of the North Broward Preparatory School campus

W.P. Carey has officially closed the books on its $68.6 million purchase of a for-profit preparatory school in Coconut Creek, which it’s leasing back to a United Kingdom education company.

County records show the New York-based real estate investment trust is now the owner of North Broward Preparatory School, a nearly 80-acre institution at 7600 Lyons Road that resembles more of a college campus than a traditional K-12 school.

The deal had been previously announced by W.P. Carey in April as part of a $167 million acquisition of three U.S. private schools from U.K firm Nord Anglia Education.

Nord Anglia had come to own those three schools, as well as three others, as part of a massive $575 million cash acquisition from the Meritas family of schools last year.

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With this latest sale, W.P. Carey has agreed to triple-net lease the schools back to Nord Anglia for the next 25 years. The trust has also said it will provide $128 million in financing for future expansions.

Although leasing details weren’t included in the announcement, Nord Anglia will now be subject to uncapped annual consumer-price index increases.

Founded in 1957, North Broward Prep boasts an annual roster of roughly 1,600 students and recruitment from colleges like Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT and Columbia, among others, according to its website. The school offers enrollment for both boarding students and day-time students.

When it first acquired North Borward Prep and the five other private schools from Meritas, Nord Anglia said the schools were generating revenue of $25,600 per full-time student.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Nord Anglia as a Chinese company. The company was started in the United Kingdom and moved its headquarters to Hong Kong in 2012.