Miami Beach Seagull Hotel at 100 21st St. Photo: Google

Weeks into the new year, South Florida already is boasting top-dollar multifamily and hotel deals as well as transactions in evolving neighborhoods.

Multifamily is one of the strongest markets as the population keeps growing and some residents opt to rent, turned off by the high price and long-term commitment of buying a home.

The hotel market also is seeing growth with new product on the rise, old ones being renovated and trophy assets catching the eyes of investors.

A new apartment mid-rise in downtown West Palm Beach traded for $103.5 million, and a South Beach hotel went for $120 million.

Separately, evolving markets also are seeing more movement this year. Miami's Wynwood in recent years became an internationally known arts district with galleries opening in old warehouses next to trendy bars and eateries.

Now the neighborhood is poised for its next chapter with the development of more apartments, offices and hotels. Case in point: Apartment developer AMLI Residential based in Chicago bought a Wynwood assemblage for $35 million with plans to transform it into a residential mixed-use project.

Put these other transactions on your radar:

• The mid-rise Sole at City Center apartment building in downtown West Palm Beach sold for $103.5 million for what's likely the biggest multifamily transaction in South Florida so far this year. It was built in 2018 as Broadstone City Center and rebranded after the sale. An affiliate of Phoenix-based Alliance Residential LLC sold the building to an affiliate of the Nuveen LLC investment management company, which is part of financial services provider TIAA-CREF. The sale of the 315-unit building breaks down to $328,571 per unit. Sole at City Center at 499 Evernia St. is in a central downtown location near Virgin Trains USA's station. The deal closed Jan. 15.
• Miami Beach's Seagull Hotel traded for $120 million for the biggest hotel deal so far this year. BHI Miami Ltd. bought the hotel from JHG Holdings Miami Owner LLC, Miami-Dade County deed records show. JHG Holdings was founded by Jeffrey Dagowitz, principal of New York-based real estate investment and development manager Actium Development Co. The Real Deal real estate publication, which first reported the transaction, said the seller also is affiliated with Miami-based real estate investor Lionheart Capital LLC and the buyer is led by Nabil Kobeissi, CEO of Blue Horizon Advisors, an investment firm in London and United Arab Emirates. The sale of the eight-story hotel built in 1948 at 100 21st St. north of the Setai Miami Beach closed Jan. 9. The transaction for the 172-key hotel breaks down to $697,674 per room. Separately, the hotel leases also traded for $43.5 million, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
• In Wynwood, David Edelstein, head of New York-based Tristar Capital, sold an assemblage on the northwest corner of Miami Avenue and Northwest 24th Street for $35 million. Buyer AMLI Residential is owned by Morgan Stanley's PRIME Property Fund. The five-building property at 45 NW 24th St. totals 41,000 leasable square feet, and existing zoning allows up to 669,600 square feet with 321 residential units, according to a news release. "This deal is a reflection of the residential boom Wynwood is currently experiencing as institutional multifamily developers such as AMLI enter the market," Edelstein said in a news release. "Housing has been the final missing piece to make Wynwood a truly livable neighborhood for the young innovators, professionals and artists who make up its creative energy." The purchase breaks down to $16.4 million per acre. The deal closed Jan. 15.
• A six-story office building in the Waterford Business District across the Dolphin Expressway from Miami International Airport sold for $30.4 million. An affiliate of Coral Gables-based Patton Real Estate Group bought Waterford Centre at Blue Lagoon from Connecticut-based real estate acquisition and operation compant Ivy Realty. The property sits on a 4-acre site at 6205 Blue Lagoon Drive. The Waterford Business District is a 250-acre business park with 22 office buildings, four hotels and restaurants. The sale of the 91,431-square-foot building with 89 percent occupancy breaks down to $332 per square foot. The deal closed Dec. 31, and Miami-Dade County posted the new deed last week.
• The Mile Coral Gables in Miami sold for $40 million. Aventura-based multifamily investor Acumen Real Estate through an affiliate bought the 2016-built 13-story tower from an affiliate of North Carolina-based apartment owner Greystar. The purchase of the 120-unit property breaks down to $333,333 per apartment. The deal closed Dec. 18, and the deed was posted last week.

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