HGI Buys Rental Near Zoo Miami for $109M

Milestone Group has sold a garden-style multifamily community near Zoo Miami for just $2 million more than it paid to acquire the property five years ago.

Harbor Group International (HGI) bought the 505-unit Emerald Palms Apartments for $109 million, property records show. The 28-acre property includes 37 three-story buildings constructed between 1987 and 2004. The asset sits at 12300 Southwest 151st Street, about a mile west of Florida’s Turnpike, north of Zoo Miami, near Kendall.

The purchase equates to roughly $215,800 per unit. The Norfolk, Va.-based buyer assumed the seller’s mortgage, which Berkeley Point Capital modified and reinstated to $97 million. The Freddie Mac loan is scheduled to mature in 2033.

Dallas-based Milestone Group had purchased the 528,142-square-foot asset for $107 million in 2021, when rental rates skyrocketed as Americans flocked to Florida during the pandemic. 

HGI went on a shopping spree of its own. Four years ago, it paid over $400 million for the 816-unit ParkLine Miami in Downtown Miami, in one of South Florida’s biggest multifamily deals. Last year, the investor bought a 11-building portfolio across the Sun Belt for $625 million. 

Representatives for HGI and Milestone Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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