Church of Latter-Day Saints Buys South Florida Rental Complex for $153M

Property Reserve — the investment arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — paid $152.5 million for a multifamily community in Boca Raton, Fla., property records show. 

Called Del Ola, the 17-acre property houses 384 apartments at 7801 North Federal Highway, less than a mile from the Intracoastal Waterway. The garden-style complex includes 19 three-story buildings.

The transaction comes to more than $397,000 per unit. Real estate heavyweights, New York-based Clarion Partners and Atlanta-based Cortland, had purchased the 435,852-square-foot property for $120 million in 2019, seven years after it was completed, according to property records. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been ramping up its real estate investments in South Florida. This year, Property Reserve, whose real estate holdings are worth a reported $100 billion, acquired a 284-unit property in Wellington for $102 million, and last year, it bought an eight-story, 315-unit building in Plantation for $133 million. 

On the industrial front, the investment firm paid roughly $174 million for a logistics park on the outskirts of Miami-Dade County.

Representatives for Clarion Partners, Cortland and Property Reserve did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

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