Duncan Hillsley Capital bulked up its South Florida rental portfolio with a $25.1 million acquisition of 143 units at a Sunrise condominium complex.
An affiliate of the Boca Raton-based real estate investment firm now owns a majority of Sunrise on the Green, a 238-unit garden-style condo complex at 4001 North University Drive, according to records. The deal breaks down to $176,049 per unit, and the buyer took out a $20.4 million mortgage with Coral Gables-based Amerant Bank.
The seller, an entity managed by Miami attorney Michael Montero, paid $22 million for all the units at the complex in 2005, and sold 95 units individually until 2015, records show. Sunrise on the Green was completed in 1975.
Founded in 2008 by Thomas Duncan and Shane Hillsley, Duncan Hillsley specializes in acquiring underperforming multifamily properties in desirable neighborhoods, according to the firm’s website. Duncan Hillsley and its partner, Pebb Capital, developed Downtown Dadeland, a seven-building, mixed-use complex with 127,635 square feet of ground-floor retail and 416 apartments. In 2018, the joint venture sold Downtown Dadeland for $78.2 million.
South Florida’s multifamily market is still experiencing high demand and record rents. The tri-county region’s vacancy rate hit 3.8 percent in the second quarter, compared to 4 percent during the same period of last year, according to Lee & Associates. The average asking rent rose to $2,048 a month from $1,786 a month. And multifamily investors paid an average of $330,000 per unit during the first six months of the year, Lee & Associates found.
Sunrise is seeing an uptick in multifamily purchases and development projects. In June, Chicago-based Nuveen Real Estate paid $43.7 million, or $158,333 per unit, for Oasis at Springtree, a 276-unit apartment complex at 3551 Northwest 85th Way.
In February, the Sunrise City Commission approved a land use change for a 22.5 acre redevelopment site where Houston-based Morgan Group plans to build a 452-unit apartment complex near the intersection of Oakland Park Boulevard and Pine Island Road.
The same month, Oscar Barbara’s Luxcom landed a $41.4 million construction loan to build a six-building apartment complex on the site of a closed BJ’s Wholesale Club at 8083 West Oakland Park Boulevard.