Aimco-Related REIT Buys Miami Apartment Tower for $211M – Commercial Observer

AIR Communities dropped $211 million for a Miami apartment tower, a sign of investors’ continued appetite for Miami residential properties despite growing fears of a recession.  

The property, previously known as Modera Biscayne Bay, features 296 apartments within a 28-story building. The 570,694-square-foot tower sits in the heart of Miami in the Edgewater neighborhood, just a block from both Biscayne Boulevard and Biscayne Bay at 2150 N Bayshore Drive. 

The seller, Mill Creek Residential, completed the building last year, for which it paid $30 million for the 59,587-square-foot lot and nabbed a $74 million construction loan in 2019, according to property records.  

The sale to AIR Communities equates to $712,800 per apartment. The Denver-based buyer renamed the property Watermarc at Biscayne Bay, where the monthly rents are between  $3,428 and $4,800 for one- and two-bedroom apartments, according to Apartments.com.  

AIR Communities anticipates net operating income at its newly acquired property to grow by 34 percent within the next three years, the firm stated in an investor presentation filed this month, which also divulged the transaction. (Apartment giant Aimco spun off AIR Communities as a separate REIT in 2020.)

Miami rents have skyrocketed over the past couple of years thanks to high-earning pandemic migrants. The median price of both a two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartment rose by both 37 percent over the past year to $2,550 and $3,500 a month respectively, according to Zumper’s latest analysis. 

To meet demand, developers are rushing into Edgewater. Over 6,000 units are planned in the neighborhood, from the likes of Kushner Companies, Crescent Heights and Two Roads Development, among others.

Portions of the district qualify as opportunities zones, a federal program that grants tax breaks in return for investment. 

Julia Echikson can be reached at [email protected].