Starwood snaps up Florida affordable housing portfolio

Barry Sternlicht’s firm spent $92M in 669-unit deal

53 Sonrise Place in Fellsmere, FL and Starwood Capital Group chairman Barry Sternlicht (Google Maps, Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty)
53 Sonrise Place in Fellsmere, FL and Starwood Capital Group chairman Barry Sternlicht (Google Maps, Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty)

Barry Sternlicht’s latest affordable housing play in Florida stretches beyond Lake Worth.

Starwood Capital Group spent $91.8 million for a 669-unit affordable housing portfolio in the state, Multi-Housing News reported. Comprising four different communities, the transaction breaks down to roughly $137,000 per unit.

All four assets were completed between 1994 and 2007, developed under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. All four will remain affordable under Starwood.

The 94-unit Villas at the Cove Crossing at 2738 Lantana Road and 2735 Donnelly Drive in Lake Worth sold for $16 million from an entity tied to Equity Management Partners, records previously revealed. Equity Management flipped the property for a 62 percent gain from its purchase five months earlier.

The other properties involved in the portfolio deal include: the 184-unit Overlook at Monroe at 100 Wilner Circle in Sanford; the 241-unit Sonrise Villas Apartments at 53 Sonrise Place in Fellsmere; and the 150-unit St. Luke’s Apartments at 915 Quincy Street in Lakeland.

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Marcus & Millichap’s Evan Kristol represented both the sellers and buyer in the deal; Kristol confirmed to The Real Deal that Equity Management was the seller of the other three properties in the portfolio.

CBRE Capital Markets originated Freddie Mac loans on all of the properties. Each community includes swimming pools, clubhouses and laundry facilities.

Starwood has a growing portfolio of low-income rentals in Palm Beach County. In December, the firm spent $176.4 million for affordable housing complexes in Greenacres and West Palm Beach.

The Miami Beach-based company also ridded itself of some South Florida holdings this year. In July, it sold a Plantation medical office for $45.5 million. At the start of the year, Starwood sold the Westland Mall in Hialeah. Centennial acquired the property by assuming Starwood’s $149.4 million mortgage.

— Holden Walter-Warner