Multifamily portfolio in Palm Beach County hits market for $12M

A multifamily portfolio of 11 properties in central Palm Beach County hit the market with an asking price of $12 million.

Owner Reijo Lahteenmaki listed the 81-unit assemblage that’s in and near West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Greenacres, Palm Springs and Lantana. The asking price equates to $147,840 per unit.

Colliers’ Virgilio Fernandez is the lead broker on the listing, with Julian Zuniga, Director Gerard Yetming and Mitash Kriplani.

The portfolio consists of one- and two-story buildings, each with two to 14 units, mostly built in the 1970s and 1980s, property records show. One building was constructed in 1925 and another in 1935. They total 75,000 square feet. The properties are 97 percent occupied, according to Fernandez.

Lahteenmaki accumulated the assemblage over the past four decades, buying his first property in 1984 and the last one in 2017, for a total of $3.45 million, according to deeds.

The properties are at 692 Neil Road, 4224 Park Lane and 4509-4539 Gulfstream Road near Palm Springs; 4172-4177 Narcissus Avenue and 3662 Davis Road in Palm Springs; 535 Palmetto Street in West Palm Beach; 3025 Perry Avenue, 5855 South 37th Street and 3025 Perry Avenue in Greenacres; 617-625 South F Street in Lake Worth Beach; and 307-329 Melody Lane in Lantana.

Lahteenmaki wants to cash out, as such real estate is at record prices, and in light of uncertain economic headwinds, Fernandez said.

“He rode the wave of appreciation during the economic expansion that has been going on for the last 12 years now. There’s record pricing as it relates to that particular class of properties,” Fernandez said. “Five years ago, these properties were worth less, and now they are at the record of what these properties have ever been worth.”

Rent collections are at almost 100 percent, in part because Lahteenmaki hasn’t increased rents in some units for up to a decade, retaining his tenants by giving them a reprieve from market rate rents, Fernandez said. In at least one building, a two-bedroom rents for $800 a month, even as market rates now are roughly $1,400 a month, he added.

A local landlord, as well as an investor from California, and another from New York have so far expressed interest, Fernandez said. A buyer could increase rents by 50 percent after some building improvements, he said.

This is at least the second listing in the past week of small, older multifamily properties. Citywalk Apartments in an Opportunity Zone in Miami’s Overtown hit the market for an asking price of $11.5 million. The property at 415 Southwest Ninth Street has 92 units, built in 1950.

Such properties have seen a relatively active investment sales season. GDF Properties this month bought a 29-building Broward County multifamily portfolio for $17.3 million.

On the heels of that deal, AquaBlue sold the 30-unit Greenview Courtyard at 2021, 2025 and 2031 Meridian Avenue in Miami Beach for $10.4 million.