Key, Wexford pay $26M for Boca Raton site, plan 190-unit multifamily project

The Ardid family’s Key International and Wexford Real Estate Investors plan a 190-unit multifamily project in Boca Raton. 

The Miami-based firms want to build a 12-story building at 14 Southeast Fourth Street, after buying the site and surrounding lots for $25.5 million, according to a Key and Wexford news release. 

The purchase includes the properties at 33 and 41 Southeast Fourth Street, as well as at 36 Southeast Third Street, a spokesperson for the developers said. The price for the 2-acre development site equates to $12.8 million per acre.

Records show that entities tied to law firm Dunay, Miskel and Backman sold the properties along Fourth Street, and an affiliate of development firm Compson Associates sold the Third Street site. The properties are home to more than 27,000 square feet of commercial real estate, including offices for Dunay Miskel and Compson. 

Designed by Arquitectonica, the apartment building will include amenities on the fourth and 12th floors, the release says.

While the project is approved and all that’s left to do is to obtain building permits, an exact construction start date hasn’t been set. It could start late next year at the earliest, though that could be postponed to mid-2025, a spokesperson for the developers said via email. Market conditions and other factors will determine the construction start date. 

Generally, expensive financing due to interest rate hikes, as well as skyrocketing insurance premiums, including for builders liability, have prompted some developers to pause planned projects. In the meantime, many have continued to file proposals and obtain government approvals. 

Founded in 1970, Key’s development portfolio spans more than 10 million square feet that includes roughly 6,000 residential units and 3,300 hotel keys, according to the release. In South Florida, the firm owns the 848 Brickell office building. 

In April, Key paid more than $37.6 million for the 100-room Perry Hotel at 7001 Shrimp Road in Key West, adjacent to a 288-slip marina.  

Wexford Real Estate Investors, which spun out of investment firm Wexford Capital in 2020, is led by Joe Jacobs and Phil Braunstein. It manages a portfolio of assets valued at over $1.4 billion, according to its website. 

The planned Boca Raton apartment building falls in line with a South Florida trend of redeveloping office buildings into apartments. Also in the city, Pebb Enterprises and BH Group are expected to add apartments and retail to the Office Depot campus at 6600 North Military Trail that they purchased for $104 million in April. The rentals will rise next to existing offices, which the developers will renovate. 

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