Bebe and Bridget bagged and delivered food to over 20 families at the organization’s drive-up food pantry. Their efforts were part of the March to a Million Meals initiative, a February fundraising drive focused on feeding the growing number of families facing food insecurity in Southwest Florida. Bebe and Bridget also participated in a local news segment for WINK News, sporting their Northland Gives Back t-shirts. See the full news segment here: https://www.winknews.com/2021/02/19/march-to-a-million-meals-150-agencies-partner-with-harry-chapin-food-bank-to-fight-food-insecurity-in-swfl/

Thank you, Bebe and Bridget, for donating your time to help such a great cause!

The post Team Members Give Back at the Community Cooperative in Fort Myers appeared first on Northland.

While visiting our Fort Myers portfolio, we discovered a property on a beautiful 50-acre site that did not appear in market studies, was perceived to be subsidized housing and was running at 80% occupancy in a 96% occupancy market.  We unearthed that the owner was an absentee subsidized housing developer who had syndicated the equity and had no economic incentive to maximize cash flow.  Nor did the sponsor have the resources to repair damage from a tropical storm several years prior.  Northland had to “look through” the in-place investment optics and envision a value-add rehab for the property.

Opportunity

Negotiating directly with the owner, Northland was able to acquire Iona Lakes for significantly less than true current value, looking through the in place “performance” and leveraging our market-leading footprint to underwrite the cost of the rehab and the post rehab rental structure.

Execution

Iona Lakes’ value-add was diverse and comprehensive, including new interior units, exterior paint, curbing, parking lots, a perimeter wall, access gates, full-site landscaping, exterior lighting, irrigation, fountain and lake improvements, and new amenities including an outdoor kitchen and mini golf.

Results

By the end of the first year of ownership, revenue had increased and vacancy had fallen from 21% to 6%.  This trend of outperformance continued.  In the three years since acquisition, Iona Lakes revenue has increased and NOI has nearly doubled.

The post Value-Add Case Study: Iona Lakes appeared first on Northland.

Background

In the years following the Great Recession, Florida was ground zero for the housing crisis, with foreclosure rates sharply above the national average and communities suffering from the wealth destruction caused by the housing bust.  As a result, Florida multifamily was redlined by investors and lenders.

Opportunity

This backdrop left a void of investment capital and multifamily buyers, despite the fact that the single family/condo market collapse drove a significant shift from homeownership to rentership.  The reduction in supply through the conversion of luxury multifamily into condos during the pre-crisis years, further underpinned the recovery, and when Florida’s underlying economies gained momentum in 2012-2015, rent growth significantly outpaced the national average.  After research and due diligence, Northland announced our intent to target Florida generally, and Fort Myers, Melbourne, and Palm Beach County, specifically, for acquisitions.

Execution 

Northland acquired 13 Florida communities between 2011 and 2015, with a primary focus on Fort Myers.  Fort Myers offered a compelling opportunity to achieve meaningful scale at deeply discounted prices, particularly because the high-end units taken out of inventory and sold as condominiums left only nine class-A apartment communities.  Northland tried to acquire all of them, and was successful in buying six.  The acquisitions exemplified several of Northland’s deal targeting strategies including a foreclosure auction, best-in-class town jewel, a deep value-add, and a broken condo deal.

Results

Northland’s acquisitions in Fort Myers produced the highest single-market consolidated returns in the firm’s history.

The post Case Study: Fort Myers 2011- 2015 appeared first on Northland.