Ortsac Capital Group has acquired the Ventura Pointe apartment complex in Pembroke Pines for $52.5 million, reflecting a 5.6 percent discount from its previous sale price six years ago. The transaction comes at a time when South Florida’s multifamily market is experiencing slower growth following the post-pandemic surge.
The purchase includes 206 units at 7850 Pasadena Boulevard and equates to about $254,854 per apartment. Ortsac, headed by Bobby and Sofia Castro, assumed an existing $38.6 million loan from MetLife Real Estate Lending and refinanced it as a Fannie Mae loan, raising the total to $45 million.
Ventura Pointe was built in 2018 by Eastwind Development on nearly 10 acres and consists of two five-story buildings and two four-story buildings. The seller, Dallas-based Lloyd Jones led by Christopher Finlay, originally paid $55.6 million for the property in 2019.
Lloyd Jones has developed, owned, and managed approximately $1.2 billion in multifamily properties since 1990.
Ortsac is a private family office based in Fort Lauderdale with more than $700 million of multifamily assets under management along with other commercial real estate investments. The firm is also led by members of the Castro family’s children and grandchildren. Bobby and Sofia Castro previously founded Bankers Healthcare Group before selling it; they also lead Stack and Rack, a three-day multifamily investment bootcamp.
In recent years, Ortsac sold several South Florida properties including Lakeview Flats in Tamarac for $69 million and Golfview Flats in Sunrise for $15 million.
South Florida experienced significant growth after the onset of the pandemic due to an influx of new residents that drove high demand for apartments and record rent increases. However, developers responded with many new projects—resulting in a record 18,600 completions last year—while population growth slowed down. This shift contributed to slower lease-ups and falling rents; according to Realtor.com data cited by The Real Deal (https://www.realtor.com/research/october-2024-rent/), median asking rent across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties dropped by three percent year-over-year as of October.
While the Federal Reserve cut benchmark rates four times over this year and last year after imposing eleven rate hikes during 2022–2023 (https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/openmarket.htm), some landlords are now struggling with refinancing maturing loans or managing debt tied to variable interest rates as lenders have become more cautious about issuing new loans.
Discounted sales have become more common: In September Waterton Residential sold Solena West Miami—a 427-unit complex—for $111 million or a 4.7 percent discount from its prior sale price; Rreef Property Trust sold Marela apartments in Pembroke Pines last year for nine percent less than what it paid two years earlier.
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