Miami firm pays $31.5M for Plantation apartments

A Plantation apartment community was just sold for $31.5 million to a joint venture that includes Pensam Capital, an investment firm based in Brickell.

Viera Plantation Apartments, a 210-unit rental complex at 1 South Pine Island Road, has been sold five times since it was first built in 1980, according to Broward County records.

Most recently, an affiliate of the Covenant Group based in Tennessee owned the property. The company is a real estate fund manager and had paid $16.8 million for the community in May 2010, during the middle of the housing market crisis. That deal worked out to roughly $80,000 per unit.

According to the community’s website, units range in size from 695 square feet to 1,430 square feet. Viera’s amenities include a fitness center, resort-style pool and laundry facility.

Records show that after the purchase, Covenant began working on a series of upgrades and repairs to the community’s interiors, roofing and asphalt.

Now, through a deed filed in Broward County on Wednesday, the Covenant affiliate has sold Viera for roughly $150,000 per unit — nearly double the price. The buyer is a PBH Plantation LLC. a company linked to both Pensam Capital and BH Management Services in Iowa. The two companies are longtime partners that have previously worked together on multifamily purchases in South Florida.

The two financed their deal with a $24.8 million loan from Fannie Mae, according to a news release. Charles Foschini, Christopher Apone and Lourdes Carranza-Alvarez of CBRE arranged the financing.