REIT opens Coral Gables lux rental community

Privately held national REIT Gables Residential has opened the 248-unit Gables-Ponce luxury rental community in Coral Gables as South Florida residential inventory disappears and the rental market strengthens, the company told The Real Deal.

The mixed-use development at LeJeune Rd. and Ponce de Leon Blvd. will be anchored by a 24,000-square-foot Epicure Market, scheduled to be completed in the fall. The development was first reported earlier this week in the South Florida Business Journal.

“It is almost a third leased on word of mouth alone,” Israel Kreps, a principal of the press relations agency Kreps DeMaria, told TRD.

One bedrooms at the all-rental development, which features “tropical” resort-style amenities including a cascading pool and cabanas and a 3,200-square-foot fitness center, start at $2,050 per month, with three-bedroom units up to $3,760 per month. The project neighbors the shopping area of the Village of Merrick Park.

The developer, Atlanta-based Gables Residential, manages approximately 38,000 apartments and 400,000 square feet of retail space across the country including Austin, Dallas, Houston, Southern California, Washington, D.C. and South Florida.

“Gables-Ponce uniquely captures the essence of this charmed city,” senior vice president Joe Wilber said in a company release. The development reflects a trend of more people returning to urban living, Wilber said.

The design gives a nod to the 1920s Mediterranean Revival style that characterizes much of Coral Gables, the company said. –Emily Schmall

Correction: The article has been updated to correct a publicist’s and a reporter’s errors. The project will offer 248 units, not 249 units, and two-bedroom units will start at $3,615 and go as high as $3,760, not the $4,760 previously reported.