Mesirow picked up a 325-unit apartment complex for $89.4 million near Sawgrass Mills mall in Sunrise, amid a recent uptick in South Florida multifamily investment sales.
The firm bought The Retreat at Sawgrass Village, consisting of a five-story building and three one-story buildings, at 3001 Northwest 130th Terrace from AMLI Residential, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. The deal breaks down to $275,138 per unit.
Both the buyer and seller are based in Chicago.
The purchase marks one of the few multifamily investment sales this year. Elevated interest rates, skittish bank lending, and a slowdown in apartment demand and rent hikes have all led to a drop in sales.
The few players still buying multifamily properties usually have closed discretionary funds that provide more equity for purchases, and tend to rely on insurance firms for better financing terms. Mesirow completed the purchase through its Mesirow Financial Real Estate Value Fund V and took out a $71 million loan from New York-based Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company of America, according to records.
Mesirow’s fund V, which has a goal of raising up to $1.2 billion and closes in March of next year, focuses on value-add apartment investments, according to a fund marketing brief.
AMLI completed the Retreat at Sawgrass, spanning 585,000 square feet, in 2015 on a 6.1-acre site that includes two pools, records show. Led by CEO Gregory Mutz, AMLI had paid $9 million for the site in 2011.
The complex offers one- to three-bedroom apartments, with monthly rents ranging from $2,471 to $4,448, according to Apartments.com.
Mesirow, led by CEO Natalie Brown, provides wealth management, investment banking, capital markets and investment management services, according to its website. Its institutional real estate arm is led by CEO Alasdair Cripps.
In South Florida, Mesirow paid $132 million for The Preserve Cypress Hammock apartment complex at 5201-5381 West Hillsboro Boulevard in Coconut Creek in 2022. In 2021, the firm dropped $83.5 million for the 1640 Victoria Park apartment complex at 1600-1700 East Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.
Other firms active in multifamily purchases lately include Pantzer Properties, which paid $139.2 million for The Point at Lakeside at 11481 Northwest 41st Street in Doral this month. Also this month, Cortland bought the Harbour Cove apartment complex at 1601 South Hiatus Road in Pembroke Pines for $62.6 million.