Franklin Street arranged the sale of First Street Apartments (also referred to as North Fork Gardens), a 65-unit apartment community in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The property is located on Northwest 1st Avenue in the Dorse Riverbend submarket of Fort Lauderdale. The purchase price of $6.9 million, or $107,000 per unit, is a new sales record for this area. This represents an 82% appreciation in value above the $3.8 million price paid for the property in 2015.
Franklin Street’s multifamily investment sales team, which included Hernando Perez, Greg Matus, Dan Dratch and Kameron Djamal, along with Tony Gannacone, Director of Capital Markets for Franklin Street, represented both the buyer, City View Colony, LLC and the seller, First Ave. Apartments, LLC. Both are locally-based investors with properties throughout South Florida. Franklin Street’s Insurance Services team, led by Evan Seacat and Ryan Cassidy, insured the asset for the seller.
“Our South Florida multifamily team’s proactive marketing campaign produced tangible results for the seller that included over 30 property tours with local, regional and out-of-area qualified investors within the first two weeks of the asset hitting the market,” said Perez, Director of Multifamily Investment Sales at Franklin Street. “As a result of our collective efforts, our team produced over 10 written offers and went under contract just below the list price with an ‘as is,’ non-contingent contract, waiving all inspections and financing contingencies.”
“In light of the competitive nature of the South Florida multifamily market, where investor demand is high and combined with the limited supply of investment properties, the buyer submitted a hard day one offer,” said Matus, Senior Vice President.
The previous owner purchased the asset in 2015 and, over the past 15 months, added value by investing over $250,000 in interior and exterior capital improvements in order to reposition and stabilize the property. In doing so, the asset became the prized property in the area with the highest rents in the immediate market.
The new owner has a detailed plan to further upgrade the interior of the units, repurpose the existing manager’s office into a fitness center and add a media room with computers for tenants. The goal is to continue to add value and to capitalize on the increasing rents in Broward County.
“Because the property was such a standout in its market, it was a challenge to find rent and sales comps that would justify the asking price per door,” added Dratch, Investment Associate. “However, we had incredible interest in the property from all our clients, and so we were able to put the asset under contract just two weeks after going to market. Our team is thrilled the property closed in a such a short amount of time.”
About Franklin Street: Celebrating more than 10 years in the business, Franklin Street is a family of full-service commercial real estate companies focused on delivering value-add solutions to meet the evolving needs of clients. Through a collaborative philosophy of leveraging the resources, expertise and experience of each of its divisions – Real Estate, Capital, Insurance, Management and Valuation – Franklin Street offers unmatched value and optimal solutions for clients nationwide. Learn more about Franklin Street at FranklinSt.com.
