Morgan Properties buys four Boca Raton apartment complexes for $126M

Morgan Properties bought four multifamily complexes in and near Boca Raton for $126 million, as part of a $1.8 billion national apartment portfolio purchase that marks the biggest such deal in the U.S. so far this year.

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based Morgan Properties, along with Olayan America, bought 48 complexes with 14,414 units in 11 states. The seller is STAR Real Estate Ventures, a joint venture between El-Ad National Properties and Yellowstone Portfolio Trust. The portfolio is called North Star.

Palm Beach County property records show Morgan bought Camino Real Apartments at 33 East Camino Real in Boca Raton for $47 million. The 9-story, 235-unit community was built in 2002 on 2 acres. The sale represents a notable drop in price from five years ago when Boca Raton-based El-Ad National bought the property from Gables Camino Real for $75 million, according to a deed.

Morgan Properties also bought Savannah Place west of Boca Raton for $31.1 million from El-Ad National. The 191-unit, garden-style Savannah Place is at 22356 Calibre Court. El-Ad National had paid $36.3 million for the complex in 2005, a deed shows.

Property records show that Morgan also bought Tuscany Pointe at Boca Apartments Homes for $30.7 million, and Somerset Place Apartments & Townhomes for $17.7 million.

El Ad National had paid $34.4 million in 2005 for the 180-unit Tuscany Pointe at 23054 Post Gardens Way, outside of Boca Raton, a deed shows. And El Ad had purchased the 106-unit Somerset Place, at 5614 Wellesley Park Drive, in 2005 for $20.3 million, a deed shows.

Morgan Properties, founded in 1985 by Mitchell Morgan, is now the second biggest apartment owner in the U.S. after MAA, and the biggest private apartment owner nationally, principal Jonathan Morgan said in a release.

The latest purchase marks the group’s second major portfolio acquisition in recent years. In 2019 it bought 95 apartment communities totaling 17,500 units in eight states for $1.9 billion.

Morgan Properties is opening a Boca Raton regional office to manage its portfolio in the Southeast, according to the release.

Outside of Palm Beach County, the North Star portfolio includes 1,972 units in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area; 2,566 units in suburban Baltimore; 1,180 units in Atlanta; 972 units in Lafayette, Louisiana; 762 units in Chicago; and 744 units in Dallas.

Olayan America is the U.S. arm of Saudi Arabian The Olayan Group, a multinational conglomerate. It was founded in 1947 by Sulaiman S. Olayan.

Despite its recent dispositions, El-Ad National still has Boca Raton holdings, as it’s developing the Alina Residences condominium project, which launched sales in August 2018.

El Ad Group is led by Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva, and is part of his Tshuva Group of Companies. It has significant real estate holdings that include New York’s The Plaza Hotel.