Apartment developer ZOM Living is ready to part ways with two high-end rental projects it recently completed.
The company hopes that the South Florida properties will sell for more than $460 million, and is listing them now that investor demand for the asset class has returned. A number of large apartment sales have closed recently, including the $223 million sale of a community in Pembroke Pines.
Orlando-based ZOM listed the 438-unit, 50-story Solitair tower at 86 Southwest Eighth Street in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood, and the 456-unit Las Olas Walk at 106 South Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale.
The properties are nearly fully leased, according to Greg West, CEO of ZOM Living. ZOM can sell them as a package or individually, he said. A Cushman & Wakefield team led by Robert Given, Zachary Sackley and Troy Ballard is listing the properties.
Solitair, near Brickell City Centre, was completed in 2018 and is 100 percent leased. It has nearly 6,700 square feet of ground-floor retail. Las Olas Walk was completed in 2021 and is 96 percent leased, according to marketing materials. The building is eight stories tall.
West said that ZOM always planned to sell the buildings once they were nearly fully leased.
“Our business model was delayed a bit during the pandemic, but the good news is that the economy has rebounded very rapidly and we have seen the demand for housing snap back really quickly,” he said. “The buildings have filled up, and the economic damage we are seeing during the pandemic has gone away.”
Any incentives or discounts offered early on in the pandemic are now gone, he added. ZOM, like other multifamily owners, has been raising rents in recent months.
ZOM is investing heavily in South Florida, West said. It is building: a second tower that is nearly completed at Miami Worldcenter; a three-phase, 900-unit project on Bird Road and Ludlam Avenue in Miami; and three senior housing developments, including in Coral Gables.
Among recent multifamily sales in South Florida, LeCesse Development sold a 341-unit apartment complex in Boynton Beach to Avanti Residential for $105 million; and James and Marta Batmasian bought a Deerfield Beach apartment complex for $46 million.
West said he is seeing more foreign investment from Asia and the Middle East, including sovereign wealth money.
“We’re starting to see, in volume, for the first time, a lot of interest from outside of North and South America,” he said.