With many Central Florida cities leading the nation in growth over the last few years, demand for rental housing from Tampa to Orlando is skyrocketing.
The team behind Agador Spartacus Development saw this trend coming, and has become the region’s leading built-to-rent (BTR) developer by combining its principals’ unique strengths to create a well-oiled development machine. From just outside The Villages to Kissimmee to Tampa Bay, Agador Spartacus is delivering quality BTR homes on time and under budget thanks to careful planning and close working relationships with leading industry partners. TRD sat down with Agador Spartacus Development Principals Alberto (Beto) Dichi, Samy Cohen, and Alan Benenson to learn how their company became the biggest BTR developer in Central Florida in less than five years.
The Three Amigos
Dichi and Cohen cut their teeth in Mexico City’s competitive development market before dipping their toes into the waters of Central Florida.
“I started my own company in Mexico when I was 26 years old,” recalls Dichi. “I became one of the biggest developers in Polanco, which is one of the most high end areas in Mexico City.”
In 2016, Cohen made the move to Florida, securing the site for what would become Tru by Hilton at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport, his and Dichi’s first project together. Their success with the Tru by Hilton led them to develop a series of limited service hotels in Central Florida destinations including Orlando and Melbourne between 2016 and 2020.
“When COVID came about we decided to pivot,” explains Cohen, who says that the lenders the pair worked with began to have an appetite for “BTR and industrial” in the wake of the pandemic.
It was around this time that Dichi and Cohen met Benenson, who had been buying, entitlements, and selling land to developers in Florida for nearly two decades. The pair immediately saw that Benenson had a gift for finding land that was ripe for development and brought him onto their team. From this synergy, Agador Spartacus Development was born.
“We’re three different people with three unique skills,” says Benenson of his working relationship with Dichi and Cohen. “So it seemed like a very obvious marriage here, for us to get together to do deals.”
The trio now had everything they needed to tackle Central Florida’s blooming BTR market, and they hit the ground running. Since launching the first of these developments in 2021, the firm has completed three projects with three more currently under construction and two on the immediate horizon.
“These eight projects add up to 1500 units and $350 million dollars,” says Dichi. “We’re one of the biggest, if not the biggest developers in Central Florida. Nobody has more units under construction than we do.”
The company has already forged strong partnerships in the industry. In addition to their exclusive leasing partnership with major leasing company Asset Living, Agador Spartacus has worked closely with national CRE leader JLL Capital Markets as well as Florida lender New Wave Loans to secure funding for their projects.
The Agador Spartacus Model
This tight knit crew gained momentum in Central Florida’s hot BTR market by leveraging each member’s strengths and honing their process to create a finely-tuned development machine. Take, for example, Magnolia at Powell, which the firm is about to begin renting via Asset Living.
Magnolia at Powell is a built-to-rent community located in Wildwood, Florida, a town that borders The Villages, the number one master planned community in the US. Magnolia at Powell will feature 132 units as well as a resort style pool and clubhouse for residents, a rare luxury in the BTR market.
“We went to market there for several reasons,” explains Benenson. “There’s tremendous growth going on inside The Villages. So with that comes a huge amount of support staff that are employees at the golf course and the restaurants and the hospitals.”
Because The Villages is a 55 or older community, much of the staff is being drawn from as far away as Ocala. “There wasn’t a lot of housing for that support community there,” says Benenson. “We picked that market to provide housing pretty much inside The Villages, but at the borderline street that separates it.”
Having located the perfect spot for this kind of housing stock, Benenson then turned the project over to Cohen, who is in charge of financing, and Dichi, who has created a unified development system by working with the same GC on all of their projects.
“The houses we build are similar, if not exactly the same,” he says, explaining how, by focusing on “horizontal, two-story townhouses” in the same geographical region, Agador Spartacus has been able to refine their process with each new development, streamlining everything from materials to construction management to delivery timeline.
This efficiency has not only enabled them to complete their projects under budget, but also to offer more amenities than other communities at comparable price points. “We are very aware how much the project is going to cost, which gives us the opportunity to move some money to the clubhouse and dog park,” he explains. “Once you make a cookie and you get the right recipe, you can repeat it. That’s how we have a lot of control on costs.”
Building The Next Big Thing
Like they did with Magnolia at Powell, Agador Spartacus focuses on finding niches in the Central Florida market and making smart investments that pay off for their investors. It all begins with Benenson, who Dichi describes as a “land guru” when it comes to scoping out the right lot on which to build.
For instance, two of the metrics Benenson uses when looking at potential development plots are areas where national home builders are building houses for sale and areas where a lot of one-way UHaul rentals are heading. By combining these factors with major infrastructure upgrades and large development projects, Benenson creates a Moneyball-style formula that produces excellent results. A good example of this process is the forthcoming Magnolia Spring Hill development, which is located in Pasco County north of Tampa. Magnolia Spring Hill will feature 162 townhomes along with luxury amenities.
“We knew that there was going to be a massive expansion on the Suncoast Parkway, which connects north-south to Tampa,” explains Benenson. “We also knew they were making a half a billion dollar investment in the Moffitt Cancer Center, which is going to bring a huge amount of employment to the area.”
Further digging revealed plans for nearby distribution warehouses as well as Amazon and Target facilities. Between the infrastructure investment, population growth, and new employment opportunities, Benenson saw a great opportunity for an Agador Spartacus project in the area and was able to secure a location within walking distance of a pair of schools.
Agador Spartacus is growing along with Central Florida’s booming built-to-rent space. To learn how you can work with the leading BTR developer in the region, reach out to info@asdevgroup.com today.