Waterton doubles down on South Florida, buys Boynton Beach apartment complex for $80M

Chicago-based real estate investment firm bought 216-unit Verona at Boynton Beach apartment complex

Waterton co-founder, Chairman and CEO David Schwartz and Verona at Boynton Beach apartment complex at 1575 Southwest Eighth Street in Boynton Beach (Verona at Boynton Beach Apartments, LinkedIn)
Waterton co-founder, Chairman and CEO David Schwartz and Verona at Boynton Beach apartment complex at 1575 Southwest Eighth Street in Boynton Beach (Verona at Boynton Beach Apartments, LinkedIn)

Waterton expanded its South Florida portfolio by paying $80 million for its second apartment complex in the tri-county region.

An affiliate of the Chicago-based real estate investment and property management company bought the 216-unit garden-style Verona at Boynton Beach at 1575 Southwest Eighth Street in Boynton Beach, according to records. The seller is an affiliate of Tampa based Robbins Property Associates.

Completed in 2002, the nine-building complex spans 14.2 acres. One of the buildings is a clubhouse with an on-site leasing office, according to a press release.

Waterton, led by co-founder, Chairman and CEO David Schwartz, paid $370,370 per apartment. That’s nearly double the $199,074 per apartment that the seller paid in 2018, when it bought Verona at Boynton Beach for $43 million, records show.

The complex has a mix of 72 one-bedrooms, 108 two-bedrooms, and 36 three-bedroom apartments with units averaging 1,097 square feet, the release states. The apartments also feature nine-foot ceilings, upgraded finishes and a full-size washer-dryer. In addition to the clubhouse, amenities include a business center, fitness center, dog park and pet wash station, playground and pool.

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Waterton plans to make enhancements to the amenity package and update finishes in the apartments, the release states.

Average rents at Verona at Boynton Beach start at $1,882 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, and $2,322 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to Apartments.com. Pricing for three-bedroom units was not listed on the website.

Waterton also owns District West Gables, a 322-unit apartment building near Coral Gables that the firm acquired for $59 million in 2017 when the project was called Soleste West Gables.

As of Dec. 31, Waterton’s nationwide portfolio totaled $9.1 billion of mostly multifamily, senior living and hospitality assets, the release states.

Palm Beach County has been at the forefront of a few big-ticket multifamily trades recently. In Jupiter, Boston-based Berkshire Residential Investments paid $202.5 million this month for a 390-unit garden-style complex, and Dallas-based multifamily firm S2 Capital bought a 359-apartment community near Jupiter for $127 million.