Dandiyas Sell Jupiter Schools to Freeport Equity
Freeport Equity bought a pair of Montessori schools in Jupiter for a combined $12.9 million.
The Boston-based firm bought two Turtle River Montessori schools, at 740 West Indiantown Road and 926 Maplewood Drive, in separate deals from Rohit and Bharati Dandiya, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. Freeport took out an $8.4 million cross-collateralized loan from Amerant Bank.
Completed in 1997, the school on Indiantown Road consists of a one-story, 11,000-square-foot building on 1.2 acres, Vizzda records show. It offers programs for children from 18 months to kindergarten. Freeport paid $4.3 million for the property.
The school on Maplewood Drive, completed in 2009, consists of a two-story, 19,400-square-foot building on 1.8 acres, according to Vizzda. It offers programs from elementary to middle school.
Freeport paid $8.6 million for the property.
Led by Renzo Pisa and Nicholas Kling, Freeport is an investment and management firm focused on education-related real estate, its website shows. Its portfolio consists of 10 properties leased to Endeavor Schools, in Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Freeport plans to purchase up to 50 schools by 2025, according to its website.
The deal comes amid slowing commercial real estate investment sales due to higher financing costs. While purchases of education real estate have been especially muted in South Florida, some schools traded as part of larger deals that included adjacent religious groups’ real estate.
In April, Westminster Christian School bought the Sunrise School of Miami at 14920 Southwest 67th Avenue in Palmetto Bay, along with the adjacent Christ Congregational Church for $10 million.
Aventura-based MG3 Group, a charter school developer, went on a school selling spree prior to rising financing costs. In 2021, MG3 sold the Everglades Preparatory Academy middle school at 2251 Mowry Drive in Homestead for $27.2 million, and the Avant Garde Academy at 2025 McKinley Street in Hollywood for $50.4 million. The sales were part of a $242 million sale of eight schools across Florida.
