Cortland drops $63M for 240-unit Pembroke Pines rental complex, amid muted investment sales market

A Morgan Stanley asset manager sold the Harbour Cove apartment complex in Pembroke Pines for $62.6 million, despite cooling South Florida investment sales. 

Atlanta-based Cortland bought the 240-unit community at 1601 South Hiatus Road from Boston-based Eaton Vance, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. The buyer took out a $47.5 million Freddie Mac loan for the purchase. 

The Harbour Cove purchase deal breaks down to around $261,000 per unit. 

Completed in 1996, the 321,100-square-foot complex consists of nine three-story buildings, a clubhouse, pool and two tennis courts on a 13.8-acre site, Vizzda shows. Eaton Vance bought Harbour Cove in 2006 from an entity led by Robert and Leonard Miller, Adolph Berger and Morton Kalin, according to records. The purchase price is unknown, as the deed was recorded for a nominal $10. 

Harbour Cove offers two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, ranging from 1,320 square feet to 1,365 square feet, Apartments.com shows. 

Led by CEO Steven DeFrancis, Cortland is a multifamily development, investment and management firm founded in 2005. As of September, it purported it had 253 assets under management spanning over 81,500 units and representing $20.9 billion in value. 

In 2021, Cortland bought at least four South Florida apartment complexes. It paid $230 million for the 456-unit Uptown Boca community in Boca Raton, $174 million for the 408-unit Mareas at Botanica and an adjacent development site in south Miami-Dade County, $98.9 million for the 424-unit Lago Paradiso at the Hammocks in south Miami-Dade, and $66 million for the 226-unit Indigo Station in Deerfield Beach. 

South Florida multifamily real estate boomed in 2021 and 2022 due to an influx of out-of-state residents, which prompted record rent increases and robust investment sales activity. The market turned over the past year due to elevated interest rates, skyrocketing insurance premiums and an apartment development boom that tempered the demand. 

Although sales activity has slowed, some buyers are still in the game. They are either well-capitalized with closed discretionary funds or are relying on more favorable financing terms from insurance companies and agency-backed loans. 

Last month, the Manoucheri Brothers family office paid $30.4 million for the 153-unit  for Summerfield Apartments at 3200 Northwest 84th Avenue in Sunrise. The buyer used a $18.3 million Fannie Mae loan for the purchase. 

In the biggest deal this year, Ares Management bought the 284-unit Ceru apartment building for $139.7 million last month. Ares didn’t record a loan for the purchase.