Wafra buys Milagro Coral Gables apartments for $78M

An affiliate of the New York-based Wafra Group just picked up a luxury apartment complex in Coral Gables for $78.15 million, property records show.

Delaware-based Rex Art Owner LLC, an entity managed by JP Morgan Investment Management Inc., sold the 238-unit building at 2263 Southwest 37th Avenue in Miami to Coral Gables GF Deal LP. The buying entity is managed by Wafra Senior Vice President and Director of Acquisitions Edward J. Ryan.

The deal breaks down to about $330,000 per apartment. The Wafra entity financed the sale with a $41 million mortgage from Prudential Insurance Company of America.

Milagro Coral Gables was completed in 2013 on a 1.6-acre lot on the corner of Douglas Road and Southwest 22nd Terrace. The six-story, 407,265-square-foot building with 6,700 square feet of ground floor retail space borders Coral Gables. The site last sold for $11 million in 2007.

According to Real Capital Analytics, Mill Creek Residential developed and sold the building, which features one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, a media room, fitness center, swimming pool, billiards and poker. Mill Creek could not immediately be reached for comment.

Wafra Investment Advisory Group is owned by the Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait, according to its website. The investment advisory firm has $17.8 billion under management.

Milagro is within walking distance of Miracle Mile and Giralda Avenue, where the city of Coral Gables is investing millions of dollars into improvements that will widen sidewalks, add trees and new streetlights, and convert angled parking to parallel parking.

Multifamily sales have been picking up during the second quarter of this year in South Florida. Recent deals include the $158.5 million sale of the Montage at City Center in Pembroke Pines in April and the $61 million sale of Soleste Club Prado in West Miami, which closed last week.

Harunobu Coryne contributed reporting.