Sugar producer finds sweet spot in rental projects

Game room at Atlantico at Tuscany in Delray
Game room at Atlantico at Tuscany in Delray

Florida Crystals Corp., one of three sugar producers in Palm Beach County, found a sweet spot in real estate when it diversified into apartment development.

The company’s subsidiary FCI Residential Corp. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week to open a 322-unit apartment building in southwest Miami-Dade County called Atlantico at Kendall.

More ribbon-cutting ceremonies are planned: FCI currently is developing 10 rental apartment properties in South Florida. FCI expects to build almost 2,800 apartments at a cost of more than $500 million by early 2017.

In addition to Atlantico at Kendall, completed apartment developments in the FCI portfolio include The Park at Kendall, Atlantico at Tuscany in Delray Beach and Toscana in Margate.

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Juan Porro, vice president, real estate, at FCI,  told the Palm Beach Post the completed apartments are 95 percent leased.

Porro also the Post that Florida Crystals formed the real estate subsidiary in 2012, and it began making land purchases based on its own market research.

The owners of West Palm Beach-based Florida Crystals are brothers Alfonso Fanjul and José Pepe Fanjul. [Palm Beach Post] — Mike Seemuth