Starwood Capital buys West Palm Beach apartments: $62M

UPDATED Aug. 18, 3:45 p.m.: Starwood Capital Group paid $61.5 million for the Turtle Cove Apartments in West Palm Beach as South Florida’s multifamily market remains strong.

Records show a Starwood affiliate bought the 444-unit complex at 825 Cotton Bay Drive East for $138,500 per apartment.

Harbor Group International sold the 37-acre property, built in 1986. It features two swimming pools, a fitness center, outdoor grilling and entertaining areas and a multi-use sports court, according to the website.

Turtle Cove Apartments LLC, an affiliate of Harbor Group International, paid $39.25 million for Turtle Cove in 2012, which means it sold for 57 percent more.

Units range from 665-square-foot one-bedroom apartments to 990-square-foot two-bedrooms.

Starwood, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based private investment firm, has been active in South Florida’s booming multifamily market. Earlier this month, Starwood sold a Tamarac rental community for $33 million to a joint venture between Canyon Partners Real Estate and Citi Community Capital. And in January, the firm closed on its $5.4 billion deal to purchase Equity Residential’s massive portfolio of rental units spread throughout five U.S. states, including Florida.

Starwood, led by Barry Sternlicht, financed this most recent deal with a $49.2 mortgage from Berkeley Point Capital.

Since January, more than $4 billion worth of rental communities traded hands in South Florida alone, with much of that activity in the suburban areas of Miami, Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Correction: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect previous purchase price.