South Florida kicked off 2022 in high gear with the biggest multifamily deal ever on record.
Since late 2020, the region experienced a market high, with the influx of out-of-state transplants attracted by Florida’s business-friendly climate and lack of state income tax.
Unprecedented apartment demand prompted record rent hikes that reached 58 percent in the two-year period that ended in March. That’s the month when the pair of ParkLine Miami apartment towers at downtown’s Brightline station traded for $440 million, marking the biggest known deal ever in South Florida for a single multifamily asset.
The market calmed in the second half of the year, as the stream of newcomers slowed and with that, also, the rent jumps. Realtor.com reported rent hikes cooled to a more moderate 8.4 percent in October, year-over-year.
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Here are South Florida’s largest multifamily sales of 2021
By the fall, the Federal Reserve began steadily increasing interest rates. But the impact on South Florida multifamily sales was unlike the standstill experienced elsewhere, including in New York. Third quarter deal volume here fell a mere 1.5 percent, year-over-year, according to real estate deals database Vizzda, which brokerage Colliers has confirmed as a legitimate source.
In fact, South Florida scored its second biggest multifamily sale in August, and two of the region’s top 10 sales of the year came in September and October.
Here’s a deeper look at the 10 largest apartment trades of 2022:
Harbor Group makes record $440M play
Harbor Group International bought the 44-story and 47-story ParkLine buildings perched atop MiamiCentral in March.
For the purchase, Harbor Group partnered with New York-based Cammeby’s International Group, Miami Beach-based AB Asset Management and Image Capital.
The deal for the towers, which have 816 units combined, breaks down to $539,216 per unit.
Miami-based Florida East Coast Industries, parent of the Brightline passenger train, developed MiamiCentral, completing ParkLine in 2020.
Harbor Group, led by CEO Jordan Slone and President T. Richard Litton Jr., has $20 billion of assets under management across 59,000 apartments and 5 million square feet of commercial real estate.
The Norfolk, Virginia-based real estate investor and manager continued its Miami wager as the year progressed, though on a more moderate level. But you won’t find out about that purchase until No. 8 in our ranking.
Hines grabs the runner-up spot with $430M deal
Hines Global Income Trust, a public but not listed real estate investment trust sponsored by Houstin-based Hines, bought the Life Time Living-branded Gables Station for $429.4 million in August.
The 1.2 million-square-foot complex is one of the most prominent projects in Coral Gables: At 14 stories it looms over drivers on U.S. 1. Gables Station includes 495 apartments, an athletic club, coworking space and a Trader Joe’s.
Sellers 54 Madison Partners and Nolan Reynolds International completed development of the $500 million Gables Station at 237 South Dixie Highway last year.
Hines Global Income Trust, led by Jeffrey Hines, has a portfolio of $93.2 billion of assets under management.
Air Communities pays $210M for Edgewater tower
The thriving Edgewater neighborhood caught the attention of Aimco’s apartment spinoff, Air Communities.
Air, or Apartment Income REIT, bought the 28-story, 296-unit The Watermarc at Biscayne Bay for $710,699 per apartment in June.
Overlooking Biscayne Bay, the tower was completed last year as one of the latest additions to the Edgewater neighborhood, which has transformed from a low-rise, single-family home and apartment community to a canyon of residential towers.
Seller Mill Creek Residential developed Watermarc on a 2-acre site at 2150 North Bayshore Drive that includes the former lot for the Unity on the Bay church, long an Edgewater landmark. The church has since moved to 137 Northeast 19th Street.
Aimco spun off its apartment communities into Air, with both based in Denver, in 2020. Terry Considine is CEO of Air.
Berkshire Residential Investments makes $203M bet on Jupiter
The town of Jupiter captured the fourth biggest multifamily deal.
Berkshire Residential Investments bought The Sophia at Abacoa community at 863 University Boulevard for $202.5 million in March.
The deal for the 390-unit complex breaks down to $519,231 per apartment.
This is both the first trade in Palm Beach County and the first garden-style community on The Real Deal’s ranking.
Built in 2002 and 2003, The Sophia sits across a nearly 22-acre site that includes an off-leash dog park.
The seller, Chicago-based Heitman, had paid $82 million for the complex in 2015, marking a 147 percent increase in value, excluding any capital improvements.
Berkshire Residential, a Boston-based investment manager, oversees roughly $22.2 billion of real estate as of March on behalf of institutional clients, according to its website. Led by David Olney, Berkshire Residential’s portfolio lists two other South Florida multifamily properties. They are the Berkshire Lauderdale By The Sea at 2400 Northeast 65th Street in Fort Lauderdale, and the Berkshire Coral Gables at 3880 Bird Road in Miami.
American Landmark pays $200M for Miramar apartments
American Landmark made several plays on South Florida’s rental market this year, both buying and selling properties.
That included the $200 million purchase of the Mosaic at Miramar Town Center on the northwest corner of Red and Hiatus roads in June.
The Miramar community totals 487 apartments and townhouses at 11575 City Hall Promenade. The deal breaks down to $410,678 per apartment.
New York-based Abacus Capital Group, led by CEO Ben Friedman, had paid $124 million for the property in 2020, property records show.
American Landmark, based in Tampa and led by CEO Joe Lubeck, made at least another Broward County play. In August, it paid $60.5 million for The Asher complex at 1949 Cove Lake Road in North Lauderdale.
The Tampa-based multifamily owner-operator also sold assets, including the High Ridge Landing apartment complex at 609 High Ridge Way in Boynton Beach for $71 million in September.
American Landmark and RSE Capital Partners sold the Alvista Hollywood complex at 812 South Park Road in August for $69.5 million.
Thomas Tomanek & Associates bought the Motif apartment building in Fort Lauderdale’s growing Flagler Village area for $195 million.
Sellers Bluerock and ArchCo Residential had completed the seven-story building at 500 North Andrews Avenue on a full city block in 2020.
The March trade of the 385-unit property breaks down to $506,494 per apartment.
Not much is known about Thomas Tomanek, which lists a Pleasanton, Calif., address in public records tied to the deal. The firm took out a $90 million loan in connection with the Motif purchase, with Robert Gonzalez signing the mortgage as Thomas Tomanek’s CFO.
The firm’s bet on Flagler Village comes amid high interest in the area, which has morphed into a Wynwood-like neighborhood with edgy retailers and new residential offerings.
In one of the top 10 multifamily deals of last year, Germany’s Union Investment dropped $226.5 million for the four-building EON Squared multifamily property that spans a city block between Northeast Seventh and Sixth streets, on the east side of Northeast Fifth Avenue.
Lincoln Property Company pays $194M for Boca rentals
Lincoln Property Company scooped up a new Boca Raton community in September, marking the firm’s continued investment in the city’s multifamily market.
The firm bought the 297-unit Amalta Broken Sound, which was rechristened from its previous moniker of Manor Broken Sound. The price equated to $653,199 per apartment.
The Pérez family’s Related Group and Rockpoint completed the complex this summer on 11.5 acres. The project marked Coconut Grove-based Related’s first multifamily development in Boca Raton.
At 5400 Broken Sound Boulevard, Amalta is within the 700-acre Park at Broken Sound office, residential and retail development.
Dallas-based Lincoln added the community to its Boca portfolio that includes the San Marco at 5555 North Military Trail; Boca Arbor at 566401 Arbor Club Way; Mizner Court at 6503 North Military Trail; and The Charleston at 20525 South Charleston, according to the firm’s website. Lincoln is led by CEO Tim Byrne.
Harbor Group International’s other Miami bet
For Harbor Group, it wasn’t enough to clutch the top spot in the biggest multifamily deals ranking.
In July, Harbor bought the 372-unit Miro Brickell building at 251 Southwest 11th Street in Miami for $184.5 million, or $495,968 per apartment.
The selling entity, in the care of Alliance Residential Company and also tied to New York-based Clarion Partners, completed the 24-story building on a nearly 2-acre lot in 2017.
The deal marked the only top-dollar multifamily deal this year in Brickell. Although the neighborhood has a reputation as an office mecca that’s attracted the likes of billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin, it still doesn’t have much supply of new apartment towers.
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That’s about to change. As of this spring, more than 6,000 apartments and condominiums were on tap in Brickell, and the number is even higher now, with project applications filed since then.
Among recent proposals, newly formed firm Westpine Partners wants to build a 43-story, 328-unit apartment tower at 160 and 180 Southwest Ninth Street.
Another MiamiCentral play? Close but not quite
Avanti Residential bought the Soleste Grand Central building two blocks west of Brightline’s downtown Miami stop for $181 million.
Seller The Estate Companies completed development of the 18-story building at 218 Northwest Eighth Street last year. Michael Tillman’s PTM Partners teamed up with South Miami-based Estate on the project.
The deal for the 360-unit Soleste breaks down to $502,778 per apartment.
Avanti, based in Denver, is an investor and multifamily owner-operator. Led by Chairman Doug Andrews and Christian Garner, Avanti also paid $102.5 million for the 226-unit Sanctuary Doral complex last year.
Pantzer Properties buys The Boulevard in MiMo for $175M
On the heels of completing The Boulevard apartment building in Miami, Arnaud Karsenti’s 13th Floor Investments and Ben Mandell’s Tricera Capital sold the property for $175 million.
Pantzer Properties, based in New York, bought the building at 5700 Biscayne Boulevard in the fall.
The deal for the 282-unit building breaks down to $620,567, although this isn’t precise because the total price includes the retail space.
13th Floor took the lead on the apartment development, and Tricera on the roughly 30,000 square feet of retail. The firms, both based in Miami, teamed up with Greenwich, Conn.-based Wexford Capital on the project.
The Boulevard, the only new multifamily building in the MiMo (Miami Modern) Biscayne Boulevard Historic District, was designed with a nod to the neighborhood’s architecture. Rising eight stories, the project’s wavy balconies and circular cutouts in parts of the building are visible to U.S. 1 drivers.
Source: TRD analysis of brokerage data, as provided by Real Capital Analytics, CoStar, Colliers South Florida and news clippings.