Investment Trust Acquires 376 Luxury Units

PLANTATION, FL-The AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust has acquired St. Tropez at Plantation, a local 376-unit luxury apartment community. The project was 97% leased at the time of the acquisition. Although the sales price was not disclosed due to confidentiality agreements, area brokers estimate the value of the sale to be approximately $45 million.

The apartment community was developed in 1995 by Gables Residential, a Boca Raton-based developer, builder, owner and manager of luxury multifamily communities. Greystar Capital Partners was adviser to the seller in the transaction.

The apartment community has Spanish barrel tile roofs. Amenities include an exercise facility, two tennis courts, two pools, and a washer and dryer in every floor plan. In addition, 90% of the townhouse-style apartments have remote-controlled, direct-access garages.

The property has key frontage on University Drive, a major north-south thoroughfare in the county. The city is an affluent submarket of Broward County and the property is eight miles west of downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Legg Mason Real Estate Services closed the equity investment for the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust. E. Douglas Wilberding, associate director of acquisitions, and Kathleen M. Hands, managing director for Legg Mason Real Estate Services’ Investment Advisory Group, advised Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co., acting as trustee of the Building Investment Trust in the deal.

“We are delighted to have supported the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust in the acquisition of this luxury multifamily project and anticipate it to outperform our expectations,” says Wilberding of Legg Mason Real Estate Services.

Greystar Capital Partners had retained CB Richard Ellis Multihousing Group’s South Florida team to market the apartment community.

“St. Tropez represents an opportunity to acquire a premier seasoned core asset in the epicenter of one of Broward County’s most stable residential subdivisions,” Jay H. Massirman, a senior vice president with the CBRE Institutional Group, said in February, when the company announced its exclusive marketing deal for the property.