Blackstone Buys Miami-Dade Rental Complex for $116M

Private equity giant Blackstone paid $116 million for a new garden-style, multifamily property in Miami-Dade County’s Hialeah, property records show. 

Called Elan Solea, the 400,640-square-foot complex houses 359 units at 17545 Northwest 94th Court, facing Interstate 75 and just south of I-75’s junction with the Florida Turnpike, in the far west corner of the Florida county. 

The sale equates to just over $323,000 per apartment. 

The sellers — a joint venture made up of private equity heavyweight Carlyle Group, multifamily giant Greystar and Fort Lauderdale-based Butters Construction — secured a $69 million construction loan from Fifth Third Bank in 2022, and completed the 10-building property a year later.

In 2021, Greystar and Butters had bought the 45-acre site from Terra and New Valley, which completed a 460-unit multifamily property with the 30 acres it kept just south of Elan Solea. 

With the remaining 25 acres, Butters Construction built a 507,170-square-foot industrial complex, which it sold for $147 million to Ares Management. About 10 acres within the Elan Solea property remain vacant and are now under Blackstone’s ownership.

The New York-based investor has made major inroads into the multifamily market recently, including buying Air Communities for about $10 billion last year — its biggest residential acquisition yet. The REIT has also owned rental properties in Edgewater, South Beach and Fort Lauderdale, considered some of South Florida’s most coveted areas.

But Blackstone has also sold off some South Florida housing properties. In November, it offloaded a 349-unit garden-style apartment property in Miramar for $121 million. 

Representatives for the buyer and the sellers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.