A Massachusetts boutique hotelier joined South Florida’s multifamily buying frenzy by purchasing a small apartment building in Broward County for $7.8 million.
Boston-based Boutique Hospitality bought the four-story, 15-unit Del Mar Estates at 611 Northeast 29th Drive in Wilton Manors, according to records. Boutique Hospitality’s president is Thomas Walter, who is also president of Applied Hospitality, a company that developed and currently manages a handful of boutique hotel properties in Provincetown, Massachusetts, according to the firm’s website.
For its Wilton Manors acquisition, Boutique Hospitality paid $520,000 per apartment.
The seller, an affiliate of New York-based Tona Construction and Management, paid $1.2 million for the property in 2014, records show. Tona, led by CEO Domenick Tonnacio, completed the 21,095-square-foot building in 2020.
Del Mar Estates has one-bedroom units ranging from 550 square feet and 880 square feet, and 1,200-square-foot two-bedroom apartments, according to an online listing. Monthly rents start at $1,650, according to Apartments.com.
Each apartment has an open kitchen design, modern flooring, a washer and a dryer and walk-in closets. The building’s amenities include an atrium courtyard with a koi pond and tropical landscaping, a private gym, a pool with a pavilion and a boat dock.
Just about every type of multifamily property in South Florida is attracting investors looking to cash in on the region’s high demand for rentals. Global investment powerhouse Blackstone led the frenzy this month by purchasing more than a dozen affordable housing apartment communities in Miami-Dade and Broward counties from Hollywood-based The Cornerstone Group for more than $300 million.
In a deal closer to the Del Mar price range, New York broker Moshe Majeski paid $8.2 million for a 26-unit multifamily portfolio in Bay Harbor Islands in Miami-Dade.
In a deal aimed at capitalizing on student housing, Mankato, Minnesota-based Tailwind Group bought a 15-story, 149-unit apartment building near Florida International University’s main campus for $46 million.