Mormon Church Buys Another Boca Rental for $240M in Top South Florida Deal

Property Reserve — the real estate investment arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — paid $240 million for a rental complex in Boca Raton in South Florida’s largest multifamily sale so far this year. 

Called Uptown Boca Villas, the property totals 456 apartments across five buildings at 20927 95th Avenue South, west of the Florida Turnpike, near the intersection of Glades Road and Route 441, according to property records.

The sale translates to just over $525,000 per unit and produced a modest gain for the seller, Cortland, which purchased the 16-acre asset shortly after its completion for $230 million in 2021. The meek appreciation is likely due to rent growth slowing since the height of the pandemic. 

The 642,666-square-foot complex, completed in 2021, is part of the mixed-use Uptown Boca development, which includes a shopping center with a Whole Foods, Sephora and a Life Time fitness center. 

Still, the purchase tops LeFrak’s $180 million purchase of a luxury multifamily tower in Fort Lauderdale earlier this week. 

Utah-based Property Reserve, whose real estate holdings are worth a reported $100 billion, has been stepping up its investments in South Florida. Last year, it paid Cortland $153 million for another multifamily community in Boca Raton: the 17-acre, 384-unit Del Ola property. The previous year, it bought a 315-unit property in Plantation for $133 million.

On the industrial front, the investment firm paid about $174 million for a logistics park on the outskirts of Miami-Dade County, also in 2024. 

Representatives for Cortland and Property Reserve did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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