This Week's South Florida Deal Sheet
Atlantic Pacific Cos. secured $157M in construction financing for a 36-story mixed-use development in Overtown, The Real Deal reported. A consortium led by PNC Bank provided the loan for the project, which is called Atlantic Station and located on 2 acres at 152 Northwest Eighth St.
The development site is owned by Miami-Dade County, which approved a 90-year ground lease in 2019 and provided a $5M grant through the county’s Building Better Communities bond program. Miami-based Atlantic Pacific is partnering with BAME Community Development Corp., a nonprofit established in 1993 to promote the development of adequate low-cost housing.
Construction began in January and the development is planned to include 616 apartments, including 360 workforce housing units, as well as 25K SF of retail and restaurant space and an eight-story garage with 605 parking spaces.
Atlantic Pacific, a real estate firm with offices throughout the U.S., is working on several projects with Miami-Dade County. It submitted plans in May for a 116-unit affordable housing development at a 4-acre public housing site in Naranja and is planning two affordable housing developments totaling 324 units at a multiphase project called Quail Roost Transit Village in South Miami-Dade.
SALES
Miami-based homebuilder Lennar paid $49M for 106 acres in Lake Worth in Palm Beach County, The Real Deal reported. The developer is planning to build 166 single-family homes on the site at 7563 South State Road 7 and agreed to pay the seller, an affiliate of Coconut Creek-based Zuckerman Homes, an additional $12M on a pro rata basis for each completed home that is sold to an end user.
Lennar executed the purchase through Kennedy Lewis Investment Management, a New York-based credit and fund manager that acts as a land bank for Lennar. The city of Lake Worth Beach approved a land use amendment earlier this year that clears the way for Lennar to construct homes on the site, according to TRD.
The Zuckerman Homes affiliate paid $15M for the property last year. It was previously used to train racehorses and currently has several facilities meant to house horses as well as a restaurant and equine practice tracks.
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Related Group and Aventura-based BH Group paid $30M for a condo development site at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, the South Florida Business Journal reported. An affiliate of Honolulu-based Trinity Real Estate Investments and Credit Suisse Asset Management were the sellers of the 3.5-acre site at 3451 South Ocean Drive in Broward County.
Trinity and Credit Suisse acquired the 1,000-room Diplomat Beach Resort for $850M in February in one of the largest U.S. hotel transactions so far this year and the Related and BH partnership had the condo site under contract at the time. BH and Related are planning a 37-story tower with 350 condos and a 110-space parking garage called Diplomat Landings at the site.
Jaret Turkell and Omar Morales at Berkadia brokered the transaction and Berkadia’s Scott Wadler helped the buyers obtain a $20M loan from New York-based Bank Hapoalim USA for the acquisition, the SFBJ reported.
LEASES
The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, the official travel and tourism organization for Miami-Dade County, will relocate from Brickell to Downtown Miami, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The nonprofit group signed a 22K SF lease at Citigroup Center at 201 South Biscayne Blvd. in May, but the deal was only recently revealed after JLL, which handles leasing at Citigroup Center, reported the deal in its second-quarter office report.
The tourism organization is currently based at 701 Brickell Ave. and is expected to move into its new office early next year. David Whitaker, the president and CEO of the tourism group, told the SFBJ that the decision to relocate was “purely an economic one” and said that the organization “opted to look for a more cost-efficient opportunity” as the firm’s Brickell lease came up for renewal. In the second quarter, rents in Brickell averaged $81.21 per SF, compared to $57.19 per SF in Downtown Miami, according to the JLL quarterly report.
Citigroup Center is owned by New York-based Monarch Alternative Capital and an entity controlled by the CEO of CP Group, a Boca Raton-based real estate investment firm with offices in Miami, Jacksonville, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver and Washington, D.C. The CP Group entity purchased the property in February 2000 for $115M, according to property records, and Monarch purchased a majority stake in the property in 2021 for an undisclosed price.
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OnBoard Logistics USA, a freight forwarding company with offices in more than 80 countries, expanded its footprint to 39K SF at 6745 Northwest 36th St. near Miami International Airport, according to a release. The logistics firm leased an additional 27K SF at the property to augment the 12K SF that it has occupied since 2019.
The property is owned by an SFLC Industrial Owner, an entity tied to South Florida Logistics Company REIT, which shares its address with J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The landlord was represented by Vivo Real Estate brokers Raul Estrada, Carlos Velasquez and Raydel Enriquez. The tenant was represented by Jeff Hartsook and Adam Talbot at Cresa Miami.
FINANCING
Aventura-based Meyers Accesso secured a $46M construction loan to develop a 200-unit apartment property in Lake Worth Beach in Palm Beach County, according to a release. Meyers Accesso is a partnership established last year between Meyers Group in Dania Beach and Accesso Partners in Hallandale Beach. The group secured the loan from Iowa-based American Equity Investment Life and SteepRock Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The development, located at 3300 Boutwell Road, will be called Avery Lake Worth and will include two five-story buildings with surface parking and a shared outdoor common area. It will have one- and two-bedroom units and amenities including a pool, grilling stations, a dog park, a fitness center and a business center.
Pre-leasing is slated to begin in spring 2025 with a delivery date shortly thereafter.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
Housing Trust Group completed construction on a 94-unit affordable housing development called Flagler Station in Downtown West Palm Beach, according to a release. The project — the first affordable apartment complex to be built in the city’s downtown in 30 years — was a partnership between Coconut Grove-based developer HTG, the city of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County.
Units at Flagler Station, located at 991 Banyan Blvd., range from one to three bedrooms and are reserved for tenants making between 30% and 80% of area median income. Rents start at $393 per month and go up to $1,689 per month.
The project was funded through $23M in tax credits from the Florida Housing Finance Corp., which were purchased by affordable housing investment company CREA, as well as a $20M construction loan from Ohio-based KeyBank, a $9M permanent loan from Freddie Mac and $939K in loans from West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County.
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Miami-based developer Eden Multifamily and Sterling Equities, the real estate firm run by the former owners of the New York Mets, completed a 212-apartment development called Eden West at 8601 West McNab Road in Tamarac, according to a release. The project has units ranging from studios up to three-bedroom apartments with floor plans from 598 SF to 1,388 SF. Amenities include a saltwater pool, fitness center, coworking space and electric car charging stations. Davie-based construction firm ANF Group built the property.
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A partnership of Catholic nonprofits and Atlantic Pacific Cos. completed a 113-apartment development for seniors in Miramar. Affiliates of the Archdiocese of Miami called Catholic Health Services and Catholic Housing Management partnered with Atlantic Pacific to build the mid-rise development called Casa Sant’Angelo at 16700 Miramar Parkway. Its one- and two-bedroom units are available for people 62 years of age and older making between 30% and 80% of area median income.
The development was built with $38M in tax credit equity, $22M in construction debt and $3.6M in permanent debt. Florida Housing provided funding through the agency's housing tax credits and Wells Fargo provided an $18M construction loan and a $28M equity investment. A Florida-based consortium of financial institutions dedicated to financing affordable housing called First Housing Development Corp. also provided construction and permanent loans.
