Integra plans townhouse rental community near FAU in Boca Raton

Vision calls for 100 to 120 villas on land Integra purchased for $13M

Integra Investments’ Nelson Stabile, Paulo Tavares de Melo and Victor Ballestas with aerial view of 2600 Northwest Fifth Avenue (Integra Investments, Google Maps, Getty)
Integra Investments’ Nelson Stabile, Paulo Tavares de Melo and Victor Ballestas with aerial view of 2600 Northwest Fifth Avenue (Integra Investments, Google Maps, Getty)

Integra Investments wants to build a luxury townhouse community near Florida Atlantic University, the firm’s second real estate play in the Boca Raton market.

Integra principal Nelson Stabile said the firm envisions 100 to 120 rental townhouses on 8 acres at 2600 Northwest Fifth Avenue. The Miami-based developer bought the land for $12.6 million from Wanxiang America Real Estate, according to records and deals database provider Vizzda.

Integra took out a $6.3 million acquisition loan from LV Lending, a Miami-based private financier.

The project, though in the preliminary stages and with no city application filed, will include two- and three-story homes, Stabile said. The two-story homes will have a bedroom and a garage on the first level, and the living room, kitchen and additional bedrooms on the second. The three-story homes will have only a garage on the first level, the living room and kitchen on the second, and bedrooms on the third.

“It will be a higher-end type of product,” Stabile said, referring to the community as “villa-type,” with individual townhouses built in several clusters.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Completion isn’t expected for two to three years. But if Integra had to go to market now, rents would be roughly $6,000 to $7,000 a month, Stabile said.

The project is a change in course from the previous owner’s plan for the land, which Vizzda reported was for an 182-unit off-campus student housing community. The Boca Raton City Council shot down that proposal last year.
Wanxiang America Real Estate, the U.S. real estate arm of Chinese conglomerate Wanxiang Group, paid $6 million for the land in 2015, according to records.

Based in Chicago and led by Larry Krueger, Wanxiang America Real Estate has been dubbed by Crain’s as “the quiet giant” in the Windy City’s commercial property market. Its projects there include the 54-story office building at 150 North Riverside Plaza in the West Loop.

In South Florida, the firm also is an investor in an ultra-luxury condominium project on Fisher Island alongside Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi, BH Group and the Pérez family’s Related Group.

Integra, whose other principals are Paulo Tavares de Melo and Victor Ballestas, is co-developing the ultra-lux 32-unit Boca Beach Residences condo with Key International. The project, also in Boca Raton, is expected to be completed next year.