Cottonwood Sells West Palm Rentals to Pantzer Properties

Pantzer Properties bought a 245-unit apartment complex in West Palm Beach for $83.5 million, marking the first major multifamily deal this year in South Florida.

The New York-based firm purchased the property at 7130 Okeechobee Boulevard consisting of six four-story apartment buildings, one clubhouse and three one-story garages from Cottonwood Residential, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. Pantzer took out a $50 million Freddie Mac loan for the purchase, originated from CBRE Capital Markets.

The purchase breaks down to $340,816 per unit.

Completed in 2017, the complex spans 10.3 acres. Salt Lake City-based apartment real estate investment trust Cottonwood had paid $66.9 million for the property in 2019, records and Vizzda’s data show. Cottonwood is led by Daniel Shaeffer.

The complex, previously called Cottonwood West Palm Apartments, was recently rechristened The Point at Palm Beach Grove.

The Point offers one-bedroom to three-bedroom apartments with monthly rents ranging from $2,015 to $2,925, according to the complex’s website, though the prices are marked as “subject to change.” The website shows four one-bedroom and four three-bedroom apartments are available, and one two-bedroom unit is available.

South Florida’s multifamily market prospered in recent years due to elevated demand and increased rents, which created a flurry of investment sales in 2021 and 2022. Deal activity dried up in recent months, largely due to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes that created a bid-ask gap. Sellers are expecting high prices for their fully leased or nearly fully leased complexes, while buyers are faced with more expensive financing and are unable to meet those expectations. Last year, South Florida experienced an unexpected uptick in deals due to buyers with discretionary funds deploying their capital. Many of those buyers financed purchases with loans from insurance companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which offer better terms than banks.

The only other known multifamily deal this year was New Jersey-based Joined Development Partners’ $21.9 million purchase of the 214-unit Lincoln Fields Apartments, a Section 8 complex with 32 buildings in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood. The property is at 2050 Northwest 64th Street, 2051 Northwest 66th Street, 2030 Northwest 68th Street and 6221 Northwest 21st Avenue.

Pantzer, led by co-CEOs Jason Pantzer and Jordan Pantzer, took part in last year’s deal activity. In May, the firm dropped $97.5 million for the six-story, 237-unit Milagro apartment building at 2263 Southwest 37th Avenue in Miami’s Silver Bluff neighborhood. Pantzer borrowed $58.5 million for the purchase from Freddie Mac.