MIAMI — WoodSpring Hotels and Gold Coast Premier Properties LLC have broken ground on a new WoodSpring Suites hotel near Zoo Miami. Located at Coral Reef Drive and parallel to the Florida Turnpike, the hotel is slated for a third-quarter 2016 opening. The 124-room property will feature laundry facilities, modified kitchens and high-speed Internet. Gold Coast is also developing a WoodSpring Suites Signature hotel in Miami’s Doral submarket.
DELRAY BEACH AND BOYNTON BEACH, FLA. — Franklin Street and Neal Realty & Investments Inc. have brokered the purchase of two shopping centers in Palm Beach County totaling $9.1 million. Greg Matus and Peter Crane of Franklin Street and Tim Neal of Neal Realty represented the buyer, Perkins Realty Management LLC, in both transactions. The acquisitions include the $5.1 million purchase of the 23,094-square-foot Shoppes of Delray in Delray Beach and the $4 million acquisition of the 18,311-square-foot Gables End Plaza in Boynton Beach. Shoppes of Delray was nearly 90 percent leased at the time of sale to tenants such as Radio Shack, Cucina Fra Divolo Restaurant, China Garden Restaurant and Atlantic Insurance. David Donnellan of CBRE represented the seller in the transaction. Built in 2000 and renovated in 2014, Gables End Plaza was 100 percent leased at the time of sale. As part of the two deals, the buyer has obtained a new CMBS loan for both assets.
NORTH FORT MYERS, FLA. — RD Management has purchased Merchants Crossing, a 323,061-square-foot shopping center located at 15201 N. Cleveland Ave. in North Fort Myers, for $20.5 million. The property’s tenants include a 16-screen AMC Theatre, Bealls Outlet and Jo-Ann Fabrics. RD’s plans for the center include a major façade renovation, remodel and re-tenanting of the vacant Sears building, landscape modifications and an upgrade to the courtyard. RD purchased the asset from Noble Properties. HFF brokered the transaction.
SANFORD, FLA. — Bell Partners Inc. has purchased the newly built Integra Village, a 209-unit apartment community located at 101 Integra Village Trail in Sanford, a suburb of Orlando. Bell Partners purchased the property for $33.5 million on behalf of Bell Fund V. Developed by The Integra Land Co. in 2015, the property’s interiors feature kitchen islands, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, new cabinetry, hard-surface flooring tile baths and screened-in porches. Community amenities include a salt water pool with an outdoor grilling area, fitness center and a clubhouse with a billiards room. Bell Partners will manage the property and will rename it Bell Lake Forest. The purchase of Bell Lake Forest was the sixth multifamily acquisition for Bell in 2015. With this transaction, Bell has completed more than $980 million in total transactions this year.
Orlando’s multifamily market is in the midst of a golden era of sorts, as it sits squarely at the intersection of strong employment growth, an increasing population, a major demographic shift and a variation in lifestyle preferences. Together, these factors provide a tremendous tailwind for future strength in the local apartment market. While the national multifamily market continues to perform at a high level, Orlando is starting to show up on the radar of more institutional investors due to its recent outperformance and tremendous growth prospects. According to recent data from MPF Research, Orlando is on pace to see 5.6 percent rent growth in 2015, followed by 4.7 percent growth in 2016. The strong momentum in the MSA is being driven by a rapidly expanding and increasingly diversified job market. Going forward, the picture looks even brighter. MPF Research ranks Orlando as the No. 1 metro in the nation for job growth through 2020, with a growth rate (2.7 percent), more than twice the national average (1.1 percent). Unlike previous cycles, today’s growth is spread more evenly across employment industries, resulting in a more diverse, dynamic labor market. The highest growth sectors are forecast to be construction, healthcare/bio-tech, business services, …
ORLANDO, FLA. — NorthMarq Capital has arranged a $16.1 million acquisition loan for Landmark at Siena Springs, a 252-unit apartment community located at 6101 Westgate Drive in Orlando. The lakefront apartment complex features seven pools, a dog park, Wi-Fi café, outdoor grill and picnic area, business center, recreation center, clubhouse and storage space. Ory Schwartz of NorthMarq’s Los Angeles office arranged the 10-year loan with two years of interest-only payments and a 30-year amortization schedule. NorthMarq arranged the financing through an unnamed conduit CMBS lender.
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — Quadrum Global and InSite Group have opened Nautilus, a SIXTY Hotel in Miami Beach’s South Beach neighborhood. The partners purchased the property in 2011 and restored it into an upscale, 250-room property, which SIXTY Collective will operate. Originally built in the 1950s, Quadrum and InSite preserved and reconstructed the property’s porte cochere, 25-foot lobby ceilings, beveled windows, teal green tile, the famous Staircase to Nowhere and the Driftwood Room supper club. The rooms feature 48-inch TVs, vintage mini-bar chests, custom artwork and balconies with ocean views in select units. The property also features a penthouse suite on the eighth floor. The property’s amenities include a 1,890-square-foot heated saltwater pool with an underwater sound system, cabanas, pool bar, 24-hour fitness center and the Nautilus Cabana Club.
ORLANDO, FLA. — KeyBank Real Estate Capital has secured $44.5 million in Freddie Mac financing for CitiLakes Lux Apartments, a 346-unit, mid-rise apartment community located in Orlando. Caleb Marten and Chris Black of KeyBank’s commercial mortgage group arranged the financing, which the unnamed borrower used to acquire the property during the final stages of lease up.
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — China City Construction Co. has purchased a one-acre, oceanfront development site at 6747 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach from The Peebles Corp. for $38.5 million. The site is zoned for multifamily and was previously approved for 60 residential units or 150 hotel rooms, with a gross building square footage up to 93,600. Robert Taylor and Paul Weimer of Miami-based CBRE Hotels, along with Gerard Yetming of CBRE Multifamily and Irving Padron of Engel & Volkers, represented the seller in the transaction. American Da Tang Group and Borda Commercial Real Estate represented the buyer.
Underpinned by a $50 billion tourism industry that drew a record-breaking 62.3 million visitors in 2014 in addition to strong job, population and residential growth, there is no question that Orlando’s retail real estate market is stronger than ever. According to 2014 U.S. census data, Orlando outpaced 99 of America’s 100 most populous MSAs in year-over-year population growth. The City Beautiful also recently ranked as the No. 1 U.S. city for job growth by Fortune Magazine following a 3.7 percent increase in its employment base in the same year. The Orlando retail market has also benefited heavily from healthy gains in the housing sector, powered by Central Florida’s tourism and construction industries, which stimulate economic development in the region. Orange County Property Appraiser, Rick Singh, reported that average home sale prices were up more than 10.5 percent in 2014, while residential construction rose 79 percent in the same period. With this type of growth, Orlando is experiencing strong consumer spending and an increase in demand for retail space. The Orlando region’s Index of Retail Activity rose 8.5 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2015, while the metro-wide retail vacancy rate decreased to 6.5 percent, down from 8.2 percent at …
