Bascom, Leste buy Lauderhill apartments for $79M

UPDATED: Aug. 24, 1 p.m.: A three-way joint venture bought the Sunny Lake Apartments in Lauderhill for $79.3 million.

The Irvine, California-based Bascom Group and Miami-based Leste Group, through a partnership with Duff Bedrosian of Miami-based East Hill Capital Partners, bought the complex at 2360 Northwest 56th Avenue, according to a news release. Leste, a global alternative investment manager led by CEO Emmanuel Hermann, is participating as a the majority equity investor.

An affiliate of Miami-based Bar Invest Group, an investor in multifamily and other commercial real estate, sold the property, records show.

Stuart Wernick and Andrew Garrison of Walker & Dunlop arranged $66.1 million in purchase financing on behalf of Bascom Group. Bridge Investment Group was the lender. Cushman & Wakefield will manage the property and interior renovations.

The deal for the 405-unit community breaks down to $195,679 per unit.

The property, built in the late 1980s on 26 acres and surrounding a lake, last traded for $59 million in 2019, records show.

This is Bascom Group’s third Florida purchase, according to the release. The private equity investor focuses on adding value to multifamily and commercial real estate. It sources some of its real estate through foreclosure and bankruptcy, adding value through capital improvements and efficiencies that decrease expenses.

The group – founded by principals Jerry Fink, David Kim and Derek Chen – has completed more than $18.9 billion in apartment value-add deals across 337 properties, according to the release.

The deal is another in a slew of apartment sales across the region, amid a hot multifamily market, fueled by unprecedented demand and rent increases. By mid-2021 average rents rose 7.9 percent, year-over-year, according to Berkadia.

Yet, agents and analysts say they are now seeing some areas ask 10 percent to 24 percent more for rent, compared with this time last year.

This is leading to booming investment sales. Cortland’s August purchase of a new Boca Raton community for $230 million marked the most expensive deal this year.

In one of the more moderate deals this month, Covenant Capital Group bought Lakeview Flats apartments in Tamarac for $69 million.

This story was updated to reflect a third buyer.