Prestige sells Hialeah apartments for 30% markup

Marty Caparros’ firm offloaded 86-unit portfolio for $17M — $4M more than it paid a year ago

Prestige Companies CEO Marty Caparros and 565 West 51st Place and 725 West 29th Street in Hialeah (Prestige Companies, Google Maps)
Prestige Companies CEO Marty Caparros and 565 West 51st Place and 725 West 29th Street in Hialeah (Prestige Companies, Google Maps)

Marty Caparros’ Prestige Companies sold a multifamily portfolio in Hialeah for 30 percent more than it paid for the properties a year ago.

Affiliates of Miami-based Puchero Corp., managed by Alberto Arceo, bought the four small apartment complexes at 565 West 51st Place and 643, 651 and 725 West 29th Street for $17.2 million, according to records.

The 1960s-era buildings combine for 86 apartments, meaning Puchero paid $200,000 per unit, a purchase it financed with a $16 million mortgage from Miami-based Ocean Bank.

Four separate Prestige-affiliated entities bought the properties a year ago for a combined $13 million, $4 million less than they sold for this week.

Hialeah is among Miami-Dade’s most affordable rental markets, with the average apartment spanning 800 square feet and asking $1,800 a month, according to Rentcafe.com. Similar-sized units in neighboring cities like Miami, Doral, Miami Lakes, North Miami and North Miami Beach have asking rents averaging between $1,900 to $2,600 a month, according to the site.

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Despite cashing out of the small portfolio, Prestige appears bullish in Hialeah. An affiliate of the Miami Lakes-based firm recently paid $13.7 million for a 13.1-acre vacant lot on the 200-acre site of Hialeah Park Racing & Casino, where it’s teaming up with Hialeah Park’s owners, the Brunetti family, to build a charter school and 343 apartments.

In a joint venture, Prestige and Florida Value Partners are redeveloping a large former Salvation Army site in Hialeah into a 100-townhome development with a three-story apartment building and retail space. The joint venture acquired the nearly 5-acre site at 7450 West Fourth Avenue for $8.3 million in May.

Other Prestige projects in Hialeah include three workforce housing communities that will combine for 186 apartments in different areas of the city. Last year, the firm nabbed a $21 million construction loan to build the garden-style complexes.

It’s not the only multifamily developer active in Hialeah. In May, Juan Carlos Gonzalez scored a $67.1 million loan for the first phase of his Emerald Bay Apartments project, a seven-building complex with 314 units at 4030 West 88th Street.

That same month, Dacar Management nabbed $81 million in construction financing for the Residences and Shoppes of Highland, a mixed-use project with a 190,000-square-foot retail center and four garden-style apartment buildings on a 70-acre site at 3685 West 85th Path.