Miami Apartments Where Renters Have Railed Against Conditions Score $70M Loan
The Modera Skylar apartments in Miami’s Health District were refinanced for $70M, less than two months after the property made news for tenant complaints about their poor condition.
Mill Creek Residential and Rockwood Capital secured the debt from Affinius Capital for the Modera Skylar apartments, according to a release. The 263-unit property was the subject of an April 7 investigation by local Fox affiliate WSVN that aired tenant grievances about poor maintenance and security.
“On the daily, there is pee and poop in common areas,” property resident Chloe Morgan said in an Instagram video featured in the report and on the popular Only in Dade account.
Boca Raton-based Mill Creek and Rockwood Capital paid $47M to acquire the property in November 2018 when it was a single 166-unit tower called The Modern Miami. The joint venture financed the purchase with $31M in debt from CIT Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, according to records from property intelligence platform Vizzda.
The first tower was built in 2013, and a second, 21-story tower with 97 apartments was added to the property in August 2022. By then, the project had already been rebranded as Modera Skylar, part of Mill Creek’s Modera brand of more than 130 properties.
“We are confident that Modera Skylar’s prime location proximate to the thousands of jobs in the adjacent Health District will continue to be a meaningful demand driver for ongoing strong performance at the property,” Eric Cohen, the head of debt origination at Affinius Capital, said in a statement announcing the mortgage.
San Antonio-based Affinius Capital was formerly known as USAA Real Estate and Square Mile Capital Management.
Tenants at the property painted a different picture to WSVN, complaining that the property is dirty and not maintained, that a frequently broken elevator leaves tenants climbing 15 or more flights of stairs to their units, and that a rooftop deck with an algae-filled pool was eventually closed to tenants.
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Miami Fire Rescue has been to the property at least 24 times since the start of the year to respond to a broken elevator, WSVN reported. Tenants told the outlet their complaints to management have been ignored.
Mill Creek didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment. Rockwood and Affinius declined to comment, and the lender also declined to disclose the loan terms.
Units at Modera Skylar, located at 1444 NW 14th Ave., range from studios to three bedrooms and are available for rent from $2,657 to $5,975. The Apartments.com listing offers a free month’s rent for new tenants who lease a unit in the next two weeks and a $1,500 gift card for signing a lease on the day of a tour.
Amenities include a fitness center, dog park, resident lounge and rooftop pool deck, although it is unclear if the pool has reopened since the WSVN report.
Mill Creek has a portfolio of more than 30,000 rental units in 117 cities. The developer has moved ahead on several new South Florida projects in recent years, including new apartments under the Modera brand.
Modera Boca Raton, a 13-story project near a Brightline station, was proposed in November, the planned 395-unit Modera Hollywood in Broward County was announced in May, and it has proposed a 275-unit Modera North Bayshore building just south of Modera Edgewater, which the developer sold in 2022 for $221M to AIR Communities.
