Yisroel Berg, Jordan Slone and Carla Stoner.
Yisroel Berg, Jordan Slone and Carla Stoner
Chief investment officer of multifamily; CEO; and chief financial officer at Harbor Group International
Harbor Group International picked a hell of a good time to start investing in Class A residential in South Florida, having bought its first property of the kind in Doral in 2012, and kicking things up a notch in 2020.
HGI acquired The Flats apartments at CityPlace Doral for $100 million, and the momentum hasn’t let up since, with HGI adding more housing to its portfolio as more newcomers put down roots in South Florida.
Now with interest rates expected to ease up, making investment in real estate much more attractive, Yisroel Berg says the Virginia-based firm is going to stay the course in finding investment potential in Florida.
“It feels like things could change any day, but we certainly have an opportunistic outlook and we’re looking to find good real estate and good returns,” Berg told Commercial Observer. “That definitely puts South Florida as a continuing area of focus. The fundamentals on the ground there are still really strong, particularly because of in-migration and employment growth.”
HGI has done three major transactions in Florida in 2022, starting with the ParkLine Miami, an 816-unit apartment complex in Downtown Miami last March, which the firm bought from Florida East Coast Industries. The property at 100 NW Sixth Street may have been sold for anywhere from $400 million to $500 million, CO reported at the time.
Then, in July, HGI acquired the 372-unit Miro Brickell at 255 SW 11th Street for $184.5 million from Alliance Residential Company, followed by the December purchase of Oak Enclave Miami at 2301 NW 167th Street for $113 million from Resia. HGI now owns eight properties in Miami-Dade County alone, with potential revenue from up to 2,000 units.
While HGI is firmly rooted in residential investment, that hasn’t stopped the firm from looking at office assets in central business districts and targeting individual properties outside of its usual geographies.
Berg was promoted to chief investment officer in January of this year, but has been with the firm for the last 12 years and guided the company through much of this recent South Florida growth as managing director of multifamily acquisitions. That places him among the top executives at HGI, a group that includes Jordan Slone and Carla Stoner, who declined to comment. — M.H.
