The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has acquired the Del Ola apartment complex in Boca Raton for $152.5 million. The purchase was made through Property Reserve, the church’s real estate investment arm based in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to public records and the database Vizzda, the 384-unit property was sold by an affiliate of Clarion Partners, a New York-based firm led by David Gilbert. The price per unit comes to over $397,100.
Del Ola is located at 7801 North Federal Highway and was completed in 2012 and 2013. The complex includes 19 three-story apartment buildings, a two-story clubhouse, and five one-story garages on a site covering 17.4 acres. Clarion Partners previously bought the property for $120.8 million in 2019.
Apartments at Del Ola range from one to three bedrooms with monthly rents between $2,169 and $4,802.
Property Reserve has been active in South Florida since 2023. It owns Beacon Logistics Park in Hialeah, which spans 1.3 million square feet across 75 acres and was acquired through several transactions from Codina Partners and Affinius Capital. In addition to Beacon Logistics Park, Property Reserve paid $174.3 million for several buildings there last year and another $55.8 million for a warehouse.
In recent years, Property Reserve also purchased other multifamily properties in South Florida: the Ellsworth building in Plantation for $133 million and Elan Polo Gardens near Wellington for $102.4 million.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has faced scrutiny regarding its extensive real estate assets and financial transparency practices due to limited disclosure requirements. In 2023, both the church and its investment manager Ensign Peak Advisors settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over claims that their portfolio structure obscured holdings using multiple limited liability companies; they paid settlements totaling $5 million without admitting or denying wrongdoing.
Another church investment entity, Farmland Reserve, spent nearly $289 million last year acquiring farmland across the United States—including properties in Florida—according to reporting by the New York Post (https://nypost.com/2024/01/16/news/mormon-churchs-farmland-reserve-buys-46-farms-in-us-for-290m).
Multifamily investment sales have increased recently in South Florida despite high interest rates and slow rent growth trends (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/07/25/south-florida-multifamily-sales-pick-up-despite-flat-rent-growth). Buyers are often relying on Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae loans or using alternative financing methods such as assuming existing debt or making all-cash purchases; no mortgage was recorded for Property Reserve’s acquisition of Del Ola.
Other recent large multifamily deals include AvalonBay Communities’ purchase of Avalon Coconut Creek for $98.3 million without recording a mortgage (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/08/15/coconut-creek-apartment-complex-sells-for-98m), as well as Favo Capital’s acquisition of the 1818 Park tower in Hollywood through an all-stock deal that included assumption of liabilities (https://therealdeal.com/miami/2024/08/18/favo-capital-acquires-hollywood-apartment-tower-for-190m).
