Lynd buys Margate apartments from Grand Peaks for $51M

San Antonio-based multifamily investor Lynd bought a Margate apartment complex for $50.75 million.

Lynd bought the 280-unit Lakes of Margate at 5750 Lakeside Drive from Denver-based Grand Peaks, according to a press release. The sale price equates to $181,250 per unit.

Built in 1987, the garden-style community spans nearly 14 acres, according to property records. It offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The property includes a clubhouse, two pools, a gym and a cyber café.

The latest price is more than double the $24.35 million Grand Peaks paid for the complex in December 2011 when it bought it from Aventura-based Advenir, records show.

Lynd, founded by Michael Lynd Sr. and now led by CEO A. David Lynd, originally had Lakes of Margate under contract early last year, but the deal fell through after the equity partner walked away when coronavirus hit, according to the release.

“We were working hard on it and had a closing set right when corona hit, and it obviously disrupted everything,” said Constantine Scurtis, who leads Lynd’s acquisition division.

Lynd worked with the seller over the past year to extend the closing date and secured a new equity partner, he added.

“They are really opportunistic and had more confidence in the market,” Scurtis said. “Values have risen dramatically since the onset of this and there is a huge influx of in-migration into South Florida. It has really driven demand for apartments. He declined to disclose the names of the previous and new equity partners.

Lynd plans to put in $4 million to upgrade units and common areas with an eye toward modernizing the apartments and adding more open spaces, according to the release. The improvements are consistent with Lynd’s overarching goal of adding value to its communities.

With the purchase, Lynd has spent $350 million on acquisitions over the past 15 months, with another $500 million planned for this year, according to the release.

The group last March bought a 1,059-unit portfolio in Texas, with two communities in suburban Austin and one in Houston, for more than $150 million. Then at year’s end it bought a 288-unit multifamily community in Colorado Springs, Colorado for $46.75 million.

Over the years, Lynd has owned 6,300 units and managed nearly 12,000 units in Florida, according to the release. It also was one of the developers of the 390-unit Nine luxury condominium at Mary Brickell Village in the mid-2000s.

Multifamily investment sales have been rebounding in South Florida after a pandemic lull, with several big closings in recent months.

Grand Peaks, founded in 2003 and led by Luke Simpson, this month bought the Cascades at the Hammocks apartment complex in southwest Miami-Dade County for $63 million.

Also this month, Morgan Properties paid $126 million for four Boca Raton apartment complexes, as part of a $1.8 billion national apartment portfolio acquisition that marked the biggest such deal to close in the U.S. this year. Morgan Properties, along with Olayan America, bought the entire North Star portfolio from a joint venture between El-Ad National Properties and Yellowstone Portfolio Trust.

Among other recent sales in Margate, an affiliate of Texas-based C-III Capital Partners bought Celebration Pointe apartments for $64 million in January.