Mattoni Group, a Miami-based real estate investment firm, is planning to deliver the first of its three planned multifamily projects in West Miami, The Real Deal has learned.
Soleste West Gables, at 2101 Ludlam Road, will be opening Sept. 1, Ricardo Caporal, founder and president of Mattoni Group, told TRD.
The project will have 206 apartments, with an average of 937 square feet for each unit. Rental rates will range from $1,525 to $2,760.
Mattoni is also planning two additional multifamily buildings: Soleste Prado, which will open in the early fall of 2016; and Soleste West Gables 2, which will open in the spring or summer of 2017.
The firm is partnering with Estate Investments Group and Fortune Capital Partners for all three projects.
Soleste Prado, at 950 Southwest 57th Avenue in West Miami, will have 194 apartments, with an average of 858 square feet. Prices are not yet available, Caporal said.
Soleste West Gables 2
Soleste West Gables 2, at 2200 Ludlam Road in West Miami, will have 200 apartments, with an average of 877 square feet. Prices for that project are also not yet available.
The architect for all three buildings is Caymart Design. Each is ground-up construction, Caporal said.
The partners bought all the sites as distressed properties, he told TRD. The properties were purchased for an average price of about $6 million each, he said.
Caporal said he expects prospective tenants of the multifamily buildings to be young professionals and working families: “People who want a great product that is near Coral Gables, but don’t want to pay that [Coral Gables] price,” he said.
Mattoni Group, a private equity firm, has focused on multifamily projects from Florida to North Carolina, and plans to invest in hotels in the Caribbean, Caporal said. The company recently launched another multifamily project in Brandon, Florida.
Early this year, Mattoni bought the ground floor retail space, totaling 11,000 square feet, at 1010 Brickell Avenue, and is planning to lease it out to as many as three tenants, with asking rents from $100 per square foot to $150 per square foot. The 50-story condominium with 387 units, under development by 13th Floor Investments and Key International, is expected to be completed in 2017.
Unlike many other real estate firms, Mattoni has not developed condominiums.
“There’s more flexibility and optionality with multifamily: you can build it, sell it, refinance it, rent it.” Even in troubled economic times, “you can lower rents but still rent it.” Caporal said. “For us, it’s more about steady growth.”