Earlier this month, Griffis Residential entered the South Florida market by purchasing Anya, a 223-unit high-rise in West Palm Beach, Florida, for $87 million, according to a news release.
The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based owner and operator acquired the property, which also has 3,132 square feet of retail space, from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Charleston, South Carolina-based Woodfield Development, No. 21 on the National Multifamily Housing Council’s most recent Top 25 developers list.
“Buyer interest in Anya was exceptionally strong, multiple pension fund advisers vied for the property,” Greg Bonifield, co-founder of Woodfield, told Multifamily Dive. “Its premier location in Downtown West Palm Beach, high-end finishes and amenities, and the unprecedented growth in Palm Beach County drew numerous buyers to Anya, despite challenging capital market conditions.”
Griffis Residential has rebranded Anya, built in 2023, as Griffis West Palm. The property offers studio to three-bedroom apartments, ranging in size from 535 to 1,579 square feet, according to Apartments.com. Rents sit between $2,495 and $7,295.
Griffis West Palm’s features include a year-round resort-style pool with cabanas, coworking pods, an outdoor yoga studio, outdoor grilling stations, a rooftop deck, a 24-hour fitness center with spin room, electric vehicle charging stations and package lockers, according to Apartments.com.
Ninth acquisition
The buyer purchased the property through Griffis Residential Income Trust, an open-end, perpetual life multifamily fund launched in 2020. The transaction marks GRIT’s ninth acquisition and was supported by a 10-year, fixed-rate, interest-only financing structure.
Griffis owns and manages approximately 8,000 units and has roughly $3.2 billion in assets under management in 10 markets. The firm is prioritizing acquiring high-quality, core apartment properties in markets with strong economic and demographic trends, according to Ian Griffis, chairman and co-CEO of the firm.
“Its resilient fundamentals and income-producing characteristics align with our objective to deliver stable cash flow and long-term value through disciplined asset-level execution,” Griffis said about the West Palm Beach area in the news release.
Despite the sale, Bonifield says the multifamily transaction environment is still slower than he would prefer.
“Deals that are transacting are well located and are typically sub-five caps, which is positive,” Bonifield recently told Multifamily Dive. “There's just not a lot of transactions. But there is a lot of interest in deals that go on the market."
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