EcoStone Group bought a 63-unit apartment building in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood for $17.6 million.
The deal comes amid a year-end rush on multifamily investment sales across South Florida.
Miami-based EcoStone bought Ipanema Apartments at 120 Southwest Eighth Avenue, scoring a $12 million loan for the purchase from Intercredit Bank, according to records.
The sellers were three entities, two of them led by Samuel Matalon and one led by Allen Franco, all of Brooklyn. One of the selling entities is in the care of Hollywood-based Burke Leighton Acquisition & Management.
The purchase breaks down to $279,365 per unit.
Ipanema Apartments is an 11-story building completed in 2010 on a half-acre site, according to records. The sellers had paid $13.6 million for the property in 2015.
EcoStone, led by brothers Juan and Javier Gómez, is a real estate investment and construction contracting company, its website shows.
Founded in 2003, the firm started work on its first project last year. It landed a $23 million construction loan last year for its planned eight-story, 125-unit Eco Landing apartment building at 1515 Northwest 18th Street and 1601 Northwest 18th Street in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood. Records show it has filed notices for demolition of the existing structures and excavation and soil improvement.
South Florida’s multifamily market experienced a slowdown in sales this year and last year, compared with the frenzy of 2021 and 2022 when an influx of out-of-staters fueled unprecedented demand and record rents. Over the past two years, elevated interest rates, skyrocketing insurance, a leasing slowdown and a flatlining of rents ended the party.
Still, activity has picked up in recent weeks, as investors rush to close deals before year-end. This month, JSB Capital Group paid $69 million for the 197-unit Stellar at Emerald Hills apartment complex at 5800-5840 Lakeshore Drive in Dania Beach, and F/Advance Capital paid $17.5 million for the 60-unit Melrose Apartments complex at 3200 North Haverhill Road in unincorporated Palm Beach County.