New York firm pays $34M to buy Deerfield apartments from Fairfield

New York’s GFI Capital Resources Group, fresh off a fundraising round from the Israeli bond market, just paid $33.75 million to buy a Deerfield Beach apartment complex from Fairfield Residential.

County records show an affiliate of GFI bought the Lakes at Deerfield Apartments, a 212-unit rental community that was built in the early 1990s at 1100 South Military Trail. The price breaks down to $159,198 per apartment, and marks the latest trade in South Florida’s increasingly hot multifamily market.

GFI’s purchase appears to be an investment deal. The company announced its contract on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in June, saying Deerfield is one of Broward’s most expensive cities. Also in the announcement, GFI said 43 of the community’s units are rent stabilized until 2025.

The firm had just finished raising more than $31 million from the bond market, though it’s unclear if those funds were used to make this purchase. A request for comment to GFI was not immediately returned. County records show the deal was in part financed with a $7.1 million loan from Berkadia Commercial Mortgage

According to data from the CoStar Group, the Lakes at Deerfield Apartments was 95 percent leased as of late September, with asking rents averaging $1,422 per month.

The sale equates to a 35 percent boost in value over four years for Fairfield, which bought the complex in 2012 for $24.9 million, or $117,476 per unit.

In August, the Ohio-based company sold another similarly sized Deerfield apartment complex to the Scully Company for $36.5 million, or about $182,500 per unit.

GFI, headed by CEO Allen Gross, is a real estate investment company known for its development of boutique hotels in New York like the Ace and Nomad. The firm is among a host of New York real estate companies actively raising funds on the Israeli bond market to help finance developments and acquisitions.

TRD reporter Chava Gourarie contributed research to this article.