Sam Zell’s Equity LifeStyle Properties pays $50M for mobile home community in Davie

Sam Zell’s Equity LifeStyle Properties just paid $50.35 million for a mobile home community in Davie.

Property records show Zell’s Equity LifeStyle affiliate MHC Everglades Lakes LLC purchased the nearly 100-acre Everglades Lakes mobile home community at 2900 Southwest 52nd Avenue. The park includes 612 mobile home pads, meaning the trade breaks down to about $82,280 per lot.

The seller, Everglades Lakes Mobile Home Community LTD, is led by Marjorie L. Black. Records show the company bought the property in 1971 for $1.6 million. It was completed in 1973.

In 2016, the company scored more than $2 million in financing from Centennial Bank. It’s unclear whether the financing went toward improving the project, but according to a notice of commencement filed in Broward County, the seller recently replaced a 20-ton water-source heat pump at the property.

The clubhouse at Everglades Lakes was also recently renovated, according an online brochure. Other features include gated security, a heated swimming pool, laundry facilities, shuffleboard, a fitness center and some homes with lake views.

Equity LifeStyle Properties, a real estate investment trust, owns more than 400 communities and resorts in 32 states and British Columbia, according to its website. The company is known for snapping up distressed real estate and turning a profit. In October it scored a $204 million loan for a group of mobile home communities across the nation.

South Florida’s mobile home parks are becoming prime targets for investors and developers. Earlier this year, two neighboring mobile home communities in Hialeah were picked up by separate investors for nearly $20 million, combined.

Last year, the Carlyle Group paid $45.52 million for a 437-unit mobile home community in Boynton Beach and in 2016, Sun Communities dropped $1.68 billion for a portfolio of mobile home communities throughout the nation, including 35 properties in Florida.