This 36-unit apartment complex sold for $3.475M — another sign of Liberty City’s rise
Could Model City — Liberty City, as it is better known — be South Florida’s next emerging neighborhood?
JMS Management Enterprise LLC, paid $3.475 million for four two-story multifamily apartment rental buildings with a total of 36 units, according to Virgilio Fernandez, one of the Colliers International South Florida brokers that represented the seller. The buildings — measuring a total of 28,600 square feet — sit on adjacent lots running from 820-844 NW 70th Street, near Miami Northwestern Senior High.
Fernandez and colleagues Mitash Kripalani, Julian Zuniga and Gerard Yetming represented the seller, Opa Locka Holdings LLC, an inactive Florida corporation whose registered agent was Adam Hendry, chief executive officer of Tzadik Management. JMS Management is registered to agent Julian Geraldo Sr. in Homestead.
The 2020 price of $96,000 per unit represented a substantial increase over the 2016 sale of $1.8 million, or $50,000 per unit. The previous owner made little investment in the property, according to Fernandez.
It was also higher than the most recent comparable sale of a two-story, 12-unit apartment rental complex at 1398 NW 61st St. that went for $950,000, or $79,167 per unit.
“There’s plenty of investors that are buying in Model City, investing and renting at a higher price or selling and making a good profit margin,” Fernandez said.
Liberty City has been getting a spruce-up. The nearby African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, a county facility whose alumni include famed playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, is being renovated. And last July, Miami-Dade County opened the first of three phases in the $300 million Liberty Square Apartments redevelopment, a mixed-income project.
“People can’t afford rent in downtown and Brickell. There’s more affordable rent here,” Fernandez said. He saw restaurant workers that would work and live in Brickell or Wynwood, relocating to Model City and commuting to work.
The JMS buildings will also offer a mix of subsidized and market-rate units, Fernandez said. Current rents range from around $800 per month for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit measuring about 400 square feet to $1,100 per month for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit with 600 square feet.
Those prices will likely rise as the new owner adds new electric meters and renovates bathrooms and kitchens as leases expire, investing $5,000 to $10,000 per unit.
The sales price — reduced from the $3.6 million asking price — is the top for 2020. The 2019 record was a three-story, adjacent complex with 14 units at 1120-1130 NW 62nd Street that went for $1.57 million in December, or $112,143 per unit.
“This type of asset class in South Florida is still of interest to investors,” Virgilio said. “People still need a place to live and the rental market here is doing well.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
