FORT MYERS, FL - TruAmerica Multifamily in partnership with MSD Capital, L.P., has acquired Sienna at Vista Lake, a 640-unit multifamily community in Fort Myers, FL.
With Sienna at Vista Lake, TruAmerica’s Florida portfolio now totals 1,648 units with properties in Orlando, Boynton Beach and Fort Myers.
Built in 1991 as two 320-unit communities on adjacent parcels, the properties were combined and rebranded as Sienna at Vista Lake in 2010. The 35-acre garden-style community at 3701 Winkler Avenue features 32 three-story residential buildings offering a mix of one- and two-bedroom floor plans. Common area amenities include two resident clubhouses, each with its own swimming pool, spa and fitness center; dog park; basketball court; tennis court; sand volleyball court and scenic lakeside jogging trail.
“Sienna is a well located property that has benefited from institutional ownership for nearly a decade,” said Matthew Ferrari, East Coast Director of Acquisitions for TruAmerica. “We were able to acquire the property at a significant discount to replacement cost in a market that is demonstrating very strong multifamily fundamentals.”
Fort Myers has become one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, as people migrate to the area for new jobs being created primarily in the healthcare, construction, research and consulting industries. This healthy job growth has driven the region’s unemployment rate down to 4.5 percent, according to Moody’s Analytics. Despite the influx of people moving into the region, Fort Myers has seen limited new multifamily construction to support the growing population.
This is TruAmerica’s fourth investment with MSD Capital. The partnership’s value-add portfolio now includes more than 2,500 multifamily units in Florida, Nevada, Maryland and California.
“MSD Capital continues to see attractive opportunities in repositioning older multifamily assets,” observed Barry Sholem, head of MSD Capital’s real estate group. “We are pleased to be growing our TruAmerica platform.”
TruAmerica will implement a multimillion-dollar value-add program that will include stainless steel kitchen appliances, new lighting, plumbing fixtures, countertops and cabinet fronts in the bathrooms and kitchens as well as hard-surface flooring throughout the units. New washers and dryers also will be installed in homes that currently do not have them. Improvements to the property also will include modest exterior upgrades to the landscaping, signage and lighting to improve the overall image of the property.
Yitzi Karasick and Ido Gelerman, through their company, Liquid Capital Real Estate, also participated in the transaction. Liquid Capital Real Estate is a New Jersey-based real estate company specializing in repositioning underperforming multifamily properties in primary and secondary markets throughout the U.S.
TruAmerica leveraged the acquisition with attractive seven-year floating rate financing through Freddie Mac’s Green Up program, which was arranged Holliday Fenoglio Fowler.