Spira Equity Partners bought a low- and moderate-income apartment complex in Lauderdale Lakes for $20 million.
The deal marks continued investment appetite for South Florida affordable housing, which buyers view as more resilient to elevated interest rates and the record supply of market-rate units amid slower demand.
Vancouver, Canada-based Spira Equity bought the 172-unit Woodsdale Oaks apartment complex at 2543-2595 Northwest 49th Avenue from Bend, Oregon-based Foundation For Affordable Housing, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. The deal breaks down to $116,279 per unit.
Spira is working on renovations of the property, with an $8.2 million contract for the work, according to a notice of commencement filed this month.
The buyer borrowed a $22 million senior loan from quasi-governmental agency Housing Finance Authority of Broward County, with Bank of New York Mellon endorsing the financing, Vizzda records show. Spira also took out a $2.8 million subordinate loan from an entity tied to Spira. Both financings mature in 2041.
Woodsdale Oaks consists of 11 two-story apartment buildings and a pair of one-story clubhouses completed in 1991 on a 10.8-acre site, according to records. It offers one- to three-bedroom units, its website shows. Asking rents are not listed.
Foundation For Affordable Housing, led by CEO Darrin Willard, bought the complex in May for $20 million from Related Companies, according to records.
It’s unclear why Woodsdale Oaks traded for the same price six months later. Foundation for Affordable Housing representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and Spira Equity managing partner Robert Lee declined to comment.
Spira, also led by managing partner Stephen Ho, is an affordable housing investment firm with a portfolio of more than 3,100 units and $700 million in assets owned, according to its website.
Some investors and developers have seized on the need for affordable housing in South Florida. The yearslong shortage of apartments for low- and moderate-income renters was exacerbated by the influx of transplants from late 2020 through 2022. This drove up demand and rents for apartments, displacing some longtime South Floridians, whose incomes generally lag behind those of their out-of-state counterparts.
Developers seized on the leasing bonanza with new luxury and market-rate multifamily projects, with new supply tempering demand. Yet, demand for units at affordable rents remains.
Affordable housing is also a safer bet because it is often backed by governmental or quasi-governmental financing that tends to come at more favorable terms than loans for luxury and market-rate apartments.
In July, developer Lewis Swezy, who has made a career out of building and preserving low-income housing, proposed an eight-story, 132-unit affordable rental building that will be age-restricted at 13841 Southwest 252nd Street in Miami-Dade County’s Princeton neighborhood.
Also, Housing Trust Group and NBA Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning’s nonprofit are planning the 120-unit Courtside Apartments II affordable housing project with a pair of seven-story buildings
at 1698 Northwest Third Avenue and 1501 Northwest Fourth Avenue in Miami’s Overtown.
Developers also have filed a slew of Live Local Act project applications, seizing on the state law that allows them to build taller buildings with more units in exchange for designating some of their apartments for workforce housing.