Lurra pays $59M for downtown Fort Lauderdale apartment building

Lurra Capital bought the Queue Apartments in downtown Fort Lauderdale for $59 million, marking the Swiss firm’s continued bet on South Florida’s multifamily market, The Real Deal has learned.  

Zurich-based Lurra, through its Real Lurra real estate arm, bought the seven-story, 192-unit building at 817 Southeast Second Avenue, according to a Lurra news release. The deal breaks down to $307,292 per apartment. 

The seller, Miami Beach-based Boardwalk Properties, had paid $53 million for the building in 2018, taking out a $34.5 million loan for the property from Houston-based American General Life Insurance Company, records show. 

Calum Weaver of CBRE represented Boardwalk in the sale to Lurra. Boardwalk is led by Adam Walker and the Gober Family Trust. 

Lurra assumed $33.2 million in outstanding debt with a fixed 4 percent interest rate, representing a 56 percent loan-to-value ratio, company founder Tyron Birkmeir told TRD. Completed in 2017 on 1.6 acres, Queue spans 297,000 square feet and consists of studios and one- to three-bedroom apartments, records and the building’s website show. Monthly rents range from $2,300 to $3,075, according to Apartments.com. 

Queue is nearly fully leased, Birkmeir said. 

The deal marks Lurra’s biggest South Florida real estate purchase to date. It is also the final investment by Real Lurra Multifamily II Fund, which focused on rentals in the tri-county region. 

This month, Lurra will launch Real Lurra US Property Fund III, which seeks to raise $350 million to $500 million and invest across real estate asset classes nationwide with a focus on multifamily and Florida, according to the release and Birkmeir. 

Founded in 2017, Lurra is an invitation-only investor that oversees $6 billion in assets, the release says. It also has offices in Miami, London and Luxembourg. 

In South Florida, Lurra paid $6.4 million in 2021 for the two-building, 24-unit The Shenandoah apartments at 2162 Southwest 14th Terrace in Miami. In 2022, the firm bought the 100-unit Blume Coral Gables complex at 1501 Southwest 37th Avenue in Miami for $42.5 million. 

It’s not the only Swiss firm investing in South Florida. Empira Group, based in Zug, made its debut in the tri-county region in 2022 with the $9 million purchase of a multifamily development site at 3025 and 3051 Southwest Third Avenue in Miami’s The Roads neighborhood. Last year, Empira, in partnership with Grand Peaks Properties, paid $21.5 million for the site at 901 Southwest Third Avenue and 244 Southwest Ninth Street in Brickell, with plans for a multifamily project led by Empira. 

Downtown Fort Lauderdale is experiencing an uptick in investment and development. Hines and Urban Street Development started construction last month of the FAT Village master-planned project of three buildings with 850 multifamily units, combined, as well as nearly 180,000 square feet of offices and 80,000 square feet for food and beverage vendors. The project, at 545 North Andrews Avenue and 501 Northwest First Avenue, has the same name as the FATVillage (food, art and technology or Flagler, arts and technology) district where it will rise. 

Also, New York-based Naftali Group wants to build a 936-unit project with 47-story and 45-story towers at 201 North Federal Highway. Infinity Real Estate and Bachow Ventures plan a mixed-use tower with 316 apartments and 5,000 square feet of retail in an up to 37-story tower at 11 North Andrews Avenue.