12 Acres of Florida Waterfront Land Scores Development Buy

Land prices are at a record-high nationwide. Make it a pristine lakefront in a booming Sunbelt submarket of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with zoning that beckons both “Green Acres vibes” and promises of sublime suburbia, and for a steal of a price — and you have this week’s Deal of the Week.

“It’s all about the land,” listing agent Erica Stowers of Florida Luxurious Properties, said of the 12-acre, “in-town” lakefront parcel she helped sell last week to developer SobelCo for $3.7 million. Listed with zoning that allows for both agricultural and residential uses (up to approximately 60 units), Stowers said that the property conjures up a “Green Acres” vibe, while still being minutes away from the city of Ft. Lauderdale, at 4900 SW 31st Avenue in the town of Dania Beach.

The parcel, of which about half is useable and half is a “very deep” lake, is currently held down by an “older,” 4,000-square-foot house. “It’s a beautiful property,” Stowers told LoopNet. “Ft. Lauderdale old-timers have told me they used to go waterskiing and hold other sporting events back in the day.”

The house is ripe to be razed and the plot redeveloped, though, because Ft. Lauderdale’s multifamily market is undeniably hot. According to data from LoopNet’s parent company, CoStar, apartment rents in the Fort Lauderdale market were rising at an 11.8% annual rate during the third quarter of 2022 and have posted an average annual gain of 9.1% over the past three years. Its average asking rent is now $2,211, compared to $1,977 a year ago. Market sale price per unit, at $313,000, is up 13%.

The market is competitive on the supply side, though. Inventory has expanded by nearly double digits over the past three years as well, and with 11,000 units underway, the current construction pipeline marks the highest it has been during that period.

There are no sales comps for this property, she noted, but SobelCo was able to nab the asset for a steal. The last list price was $4.7 million, and the deal closed last week at $3.7 million.

Listed at least three years ago, “before the real estate market changed,” she said, the property was initially offered at around $7 million. “Like everything at that time, it was overpriced, and when something is overpriced, you waste time.” Her team and the seller, the son of an older-generation Floridian who owned the house for some time, who was motivated to sell in a hot market, got several offers and started bringing the price down, slowly and steadily.

“A comp would show this property being worth something like $6 million in this market. The buyer got it for a very good price. And even if [SobelCo] couldn’t have done what they wanted to do with it, they could have turned around and sold it.” The proposal that fueled the deal ended up needing about a year half of due diligence and council meetings, Stowers said. “It was challenging, but you just have to stay persistent. When it sells, it sells.”

The Boca Raton, Florida-based SobelCo won approval from the Dania Beach City Commission earlier this year to have the parcel rezoned from E-1 (estate residential) to RM, (residential multifamily), meaning it could build slightly more units.

SobelCo has plans to build Dania Preserve, which includes 12 townhouse buildings totaling 67 condo units for sale, all anchored by a clubhouse and pool and wrapped around the lake at the center. “It’s definitely the highest and best use for that site,” Stowers said.

Dania Preserve will be right at home in its market, she continued. It was rare to see an expanse of blue and green in the area, which is booming with new builds and mixed-use redevelopment. Walking distance to a Publix, for example, she said, “You’re close to everything, but you feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere.

“What’s making that area pop, though," she pointed out, “is the new Dania Pointe development [nearby the subject property], just off I-95,” she said. “It used to be an old wooden roller coaster you’d see off the highway, but they tore that down and built a beautiful [mixed-use] community with dining, shopping and movie theatres. With all of that redevelopment, it was a very, very good time for this buyer to get under contract.”