Mill Creek, Invesco sell Fort Lauderdale apartments for $180M

Mill Creek paid $117M for the original community

From left to right: 3333 South Port Royale Drive in Fort Lauderdale with Invesco CEO Martin Flanagan, Northwestern CEO John Schlifske and Mill Creek CEO William MacDonald (Invesco, Northwestern, Mill Creek)
From left to right: 3333 South Port Royale Drive in Fort Lauderdale with Invesco CEO Martin Flanagan, Northwestern CEO John Schlifske and Mill Creek CEO William MacDonald (Invesco, Northwestern, Mill Creek)

Mill Creek Residential and Invesco sold a 555-unit apartment complex in Fort Lauderdale for $180 million, marking one of the largest commercial deals to close in South Florida this year.

The buyer, NM-Port Royale LLC, is tied to Northwestern Mutual.

The deal includes the Emera Port Royale apartments, formerly called Modera Port Royale, at 3333 South Port Royale Drive, as well as nearby vacant land.

The Bozzuto Group was recently hired to manage Emera Port Royale, according to a Facebook post.

Emera’s amenities include a two-story fitness facility, swimming pool and marina with boat slips, according to its website. Available apartments at the complex range from $1,715 for a 600-square-foot, one bedroom to $4,354 for a 1,429-square-foot three-bedroom.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Dallas- and Boca Raton-based Mill Creek purchased both phases of the Port Royale community in 2012 for $117.4 million with plans to develop more apartments. Three years later, Mill Creek sold the existing 553-unit Port Royale Apartments at 3300 Port Royale Drive North to Chicago-based real estate investor and property manager Waterton.

Mill Creek built the Emera Port Royale apartments that just sold to Northwestern Mutual in 2017.

This past September, Waterton sold the Port Royale apartments to author and speaker Grant Cardone for an unknown price.

Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual recently expanded its California office portfolio with a four-building complex in Santa Monica that it acquired for $166 million.

Other recent multifamily sales in Fort Lauderdale include a portfolio of six multifamily properties with 94 units that traded for about $13 million and the $13 million sale in March of a portfolio of apartments in Fort Lauderdale’s Victoria Park and Las Olas neighborhoods.