Real estate tycoon Benjamin Mallah picked up an apartment complex west of Lantana for $9.9 million.
Records show New York-based Greystone, through affiliate Cove Crossing Harmony Housing, sold the 94-unit Villas at Cove Crossing to Mallah’s affiliate, Lantana Road Apartments. The deal equates to $105,319 per unit.
The garden-style community at 2730 Lantana Road, built in 1996, spans 7.7 acres. Amenities include two pools and tennis courts.
The sale represents a slight uptick in value, as Greystone, led by Stephen Rosenberg, bought the property in November 2015 for $6.9 million, a deed shows.
Mallah, managing member of Largo-based Equity Management Partners, invests in multifamily as well as other commercial real estate in Tampa Bay, other parts of Florida’s west coast and South Florida, according to its website. It also manages rental complexes, hotels and restaurants.
Mallah has been profiled in several publications for his rags-to-riches life, as he grew up in a low-income family in Queens and then worked as a garbage collector in California before venturing into real estate. MoneyInc.com reported Mallah’s net worth last year at $250 million.
Mallah has made several ventures into South Florida real estate in recent years. In March 2018, he bought the 253-key Sheraton Suites Fort Lauderdale at Cypress Creek for $18.3 million, shortly after the hotel reopened following water damages caused by Hurricane Irma. The year before that he sold a 145-key hotel in Fort Lauderdale for $13.8 million to Stambul, the company that converted downtown Miami’s National Bank building into the Langford Hotel.
In late 2019, Mallah sold an 183-key Boca Raton hotel for $14 million, two years after he bought it at a bankruptcy auction for $9.25 million.
Greystone developed the 100-unit apartment building Blume Coral Gables, previously named The Aura, and started leasing in March 2019.