Cavache buys Pompano Beach church, plans 319-unit multifamily project

Cavache Properties bought a church campus and surrounding sites in Pompano Beach, with plans to develop a 319-unit multifamily project. 

Cavache paid $8.4 million for six lots totaling about 5 acres, consisting of the Christ United Methodist Church, plus adjacent lots at 210-219 Northeast Third Street; a vacant lot at 290 Northeast Second Street; two land parcels at 200 Northeast Fourth Street; and another vacant site on the northwest corner of Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast Second Street, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. 

Christ United Methodist Church was the seller. 

Pompano Beach-based Cavache took out a $6 million loan against the real estate from American National Bank, records show. 

For the first chapter of the development, Cavache plans a 10-story, 229-unit building and a six-story, 90-unit building, as well as about 3,500 square feet of commercial space for either retail or a restaurant, Adam Adache, managing partner at Cavache, told The Real Deal. It would span 2 acres that now consist of the Christ United campus and a lot across the street. Cavache doesn’t yet have plans for the other 3 acres. 

Dubbed Old Town Towers, the planned development represents a smaller project than Cavache’s previous proposal for 325 units. 

“We didn’t downsize it much,” Adache said. Projects “always change going through the different iterations of meeting all of the requirements.” 

While the Pompano Beach City Commission gave its blessing to Old Town Towers as a whole, the planning and zoning board will take up details of the proposals for a final vote in June, according to Adache. 

If the project is approved, construction is expected to start next year. 

By then, expensive construction financing, as well as high labor and material costs, should have stabilized, Adache said. 

“We are hoping,” he said. “I think every developer is hoping right now, but we will keep an eye on it.”

The deal marks the latest in a series of South Florida church property sales to developers. Christ United Methodist Church hasn’t operated at its Pompano Beach site for a while, and has been holding services in Fort Lauderdale, Adache said. Cavache also has vowed to move a historic building that is part of the church campus to the city’s Centennial Park. 

The purchased properties also include Harbour Church, which will continue to lease its space. That site isn’t part of the immediate project plan. 

In Fort Lauderdale, developers Tal Levinson and Eric Malinasky plan a six-story, 300-plus unit multifamily building on the former site of the First Eben Ezer Missionary Christian Church and adjacent properties on the southeast corner of Northwest Seventh Street and Northwest Fourth Avenue. As part of the deal, Levinson and Malinasky helped First Eben Ezer secure its new, bigger home in Oakland Park. 

Christ Journey Church sold 13.5 vacant acres at Sunset Drive and the Palmetto Expressway near Coral Gables for $13.2 million in March to CC Homes, which plans 26 single-family homes. Christ Journey will use the proceeds for the construction of its new home. 

In Pompano Beach, land that the Archdiocese of Miami owns at 1200 Northwest Sixth Avenue will be turned into a 150-unit affordable housing complex. Developer Smith & Henzy Advisory Group leases the site from the Archdiocese.