Cortland buys Kendall apartment complex for $99M

Atlanta-based real estate investment firm paid $233K per apartment for Lago Paradiso at the Hammocks

Steven DeFrancis, CEO of Cortland; Lago Paradiso at the Hammocks (Google Maps, Cortland)
Steven DeFrancis, CEO of Cortland; Lago Paradiso at the Hammocks (Google Maps, Cortland)

An Atlanta-based multifamily real estate investment firm is feasting on South Florida apartment complexes, spending nearly $500 million acquiring properties since the beginning of the year.

Two months after completing the tri-county region’s most expensive multifamily purchase of the year in Boca Raton, Cortland paid $98.9 million for Lago Paradiso at the Hammocks in southwest Miami-Dade, records show. Tampa-based American Landmark Apartments is the seller. Cortland, led by CEO Steven DeFrancis, assumed a $54.1 million mortgage from Fannie Mae.

The deal equates to roughly $233,254 per apartment for the 424-unit garden-style community at 15000 Southwest 104th Street in the Kendall neighborhood.

A JLL team led by Maurice Habif marketed the 17-acre property.

In August, Cortland bought The Uptown Boca, a new seven-building complex with 456 units in Boca Raton, for $230 million, marking the year’s priciest multifamily deal in South Florida.

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Built in 1987, the Lago Paradiso complex consists of two-story buildings with one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 552 square feet to 945 square feet. Amenities include two pools, a 24-hour fitness center, a clubhouse with a WiFi cafe, a fire pit area, an outdoor kitchen with gas grills and a lakeside jogging and bike trail, according to a JLL press release.

An affiliate of American Landmark Apartments paid $60.8 million for the property in 2017, according to records.

Founded in 2005, Cortland owns roughly 200 apartment communities across the U.S. The firm has been bullish on South Florida, where a booming multifamily market has led to rising rents and lower vacancies amid a surge in investment sales in recent months.

South Florida average asking rents reached $1,735 in the second quarter, a $171 increase from the same period last year, according to a Lee & Associates report. The vacancy rate dropped from 6.7 percent to 4.3 percent, year over year.

Including the Lago Paradiso and The Uptown Boca deals, Cortland spent $486.6 million on four South Florida apartment complexes since January. The company acquired the 226-unit Indigo Station in Deerfield Beach for $66 million and the 336-unit Parc Station in Hollywood for $91.7 million.