Advenir has acquired Bell Lighthouse Point, a 249-unit apartment building in Pompano Beach, for $60.9 million. The transaction comes as multifamily investment sales are showing signs of recovery in South Florida.
The property, located at 4611 North Federal Highway, was purchased from Bell Partners, based in Greensboro, North Carolina. According to public records and real estate database Vizzda, Advenir assumed the seller’s outstanding loan balance of $37.6 million and modified the debt into a $53.3 million Freddie Mac loan.
Bell Lighthouse Point is a six-story building completed in 2015 on a 5.3-acre site. It offers apartments ranging from one to three bedrooms. The sale price translates to approximately $244,578 per unit.
Bell Partners had previously acquired the building for $58.5 million in 2019.
Advenir is led by Stephen L. Vecchitto and David Vecchitto and focuses on developing, investing in, and managing multifamily and single-family rental properties. Since its founding in 1996, Advenir has owned and managed more than 30,000 units with a current portfolio valued at $2.9 billion.
This purchase follows Advenir’s recent sale of Palm Beach Gardens Apartments—a 542-unit complex—for $117.9 million to West Shore.
South Florida’s multifamily market has slowed compared to previous years when high demand from out-of-state renters drove up rents and spurred new construction projects. Last year saw the delivery of a record number of new units—18,600—outpacing net new leases by several thousand units according to CoStar Group data (https://www.costargroup.com). This oversupply has led to slower lease-ups for new developments and an increase in tenant concessions; for example, Bell Lighthouse Point recently advertised a “$99 move-in special” on its website.
Despite higher interest rates affecting the sector nationally, investment activity has increased over the past year as buyers often assume existing debt or secure financing through government-sponsored entities like Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae or insurance companies.
The sale marks at least the second property that Bell Partners has sold in South Florida within two months; last month it sold Bell at Broken Sound Apartments—a 270-unit complex—to Tishman Speyer for $124.5 million.
Other notable transactions include Pantzer Properties’ acquisition this month of a Miramar apartment building with 393 units for $161 million and Morgan Properties’ purchase last month of Visions at Willow Pond—a 300-unit complex—for $70 million.
