Prism Multifamily Group, a Toronto-based firm that invests in apartment communities in the U.S., closed on two multifamily complexes in Broward County.
Prism paid $53.5 million for the Hamlet Plantation apartments at 4401 Northwest 10th Court in Plantation and The Continental Apartments at 1861 Northwest 46th Avenue in Lauderhill, according to a press release. Jenco Properties, based in South Florida, sold the communities, which have a combined 398 units.
The total price breaks down to about $134,000 per unit.
Newmark Knight Frank’s Tal Frydman, Avery Klann, Hampton Beebe, Tyler Minix and Jonathan Senn represented Jenco, which owned the complexes for 45 years. Prism plans to upgrade the units and add fitness centers to the properties, which are less than one mile apart from each other, Frydman said in the release. It also plans to rename the properties.
Hamlet Plantation was built in 1970 and is fully leased at an average price of $1,219 a month. The Continental Apartments, developed in 1971, is 99 percent leased at an average price of $1,250 a month. They include one- and two-bedroom apartments with impact windows and new roofs.
Prism focuses on acquiring Class B apartments on behalf of family offices in Canada. Last year, the company paid $47 million for the 291-unit Spectra at Tamarac apartment complex.
Though many landlords reported high collections of April rent, that could decline in the months to come when federal and local aid dries up, experts say. A CBRE report from late April found that underwriting is more conservative, and deals that are in the early stages are hampered by uncertainty over rent growth and collections.
About 80 percent of apartment households made full or partial rent payments as of May 6, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council’s survey of 11.4 million professionally managed units across the country.
Brokers and sellers in South Florida say the region will benefit from investors betting on a surge of relocations from denser, more expensive markets.
In February, prior to the pandemic, New York-based private equity firm Code Capital Partners bought an affordable apartment complex in Lauderhill for $44.6 million.