ORLANDO—Wells Fargo is betting big on Florida multifamily. How big? The financial institution's Multifamily Capital Group recently closed a $52 million Fannie Mae loan to Avesta Communities to refinance a portfolio of multifamily properties across Florida.

“This refinancing further consolidates Avesta's position as a long-term owner of these communities, allowing our company to continuously provide residents with a home where they can live abundantly,” says Alin Sigheartau, director of Investments at Avesta. Three of the multifamily assets in the Avesta portfolio are in the Greater Tampa-Saint Petersburg market. These apartment properties accounted for about 65% of the total units represented in the multifamily portfolio.

“Avesta is a best in class operator and in our opinion did a phenomenal job in executing their business strategy to reposition the related assets,” says Horatio Jones, the director of the Florida Region for Wells' Multifamily Capital Group.

“The fundamentals in the Tampa-Saint Pete submarkets, as well as the South Florida submarkets, remain attractive and Wells Fargo's Multifamily Capital Group plans to remain active in providing nonrecourse financing solutions to clients within this market.” 

The largest single asset in the portfolio is a three-story, 314-unit complex located in Palm Springs, FL. Joshua Minix, Avesta senior director and partner, says, “This refinancing allowed Avesta to return 136% of invested capital after holding for an average of 27 months. The communities refinanced exemplify the successful execution of operational and capital repositioning that Avesta implements in all its communities.”

Avesta is especially active in Central Florida. In May, the firm acquired Laguna Oaks, a 360-unit multifamily community in Orlando, for $29.15 million.