EDEN Multifamily, Sterling Equities Form JV
This new platform will enable EDEN to build traditional multifamily properties throughout the Southeast.
A new joint venture with Sterling Equities will help EDEN Multifamily expand its multifamily development and investment platform throughout the Southeast and plans for future growth across the United States.
The amount of funding from the joint venture was not disclosed but EDEN’s existing pipeline for 2022 construction starts totals more than $750 million and is expected to exceed $1.2 billion by mid-2023. Those figures represent planned groundbreakings of walk-up, surfaced-parked communities as well as mid-rise and high-rise properties, according to Jay Jacobson, president, COO & co-founder of EDEN Multifamily with CEO Jay Massirman.
In February 2021, Jacobson and Massirman along with America’s Capital Partners Principal Sergio Socolsky launched EDEN Living, a horizontal apartment development firm to build single-family for rent home communities. Jacobson told Multi-Housing News the Sterling Equities joint venture will be focused on “traditional multifamily properties” and will not be doing build-for-rent, single-family home developments.
Sterling Equities is the vertically integrated real estate investment, management and development company of the Katz and Wilpon families. The company makes investments and forms ventures throughout major urban markets that include residential, commercial and industrial properties. The firm also makes strategic investments in sports and media-related ventures including the New York Mets, SportsNet New York, Esports and various real estate-focused equity and VC funds.
Sterling Equities has developed or invested in more than 65,000 residential units over the past 50 years. Recent investments in South Florida include the purchase of Solmar on Sixth in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; 1333 South Ocean in Pompano Beach, Fla.; and Midtown Five in Miami.
Todd Katz, Sterling Equities partner, said in a prepared statement the company’s multifamily investment thesis matches seamlessly with EDEN’s. He noted the partnership stems from a longstanding relationship with Jacobson and Massirman and their respect for the EDEN team’s track record.
Growth Plans
Massirman called the new partnership a pivotal endorsement of what he and Jacobson have worked for since founding EDEN Multifamily in 2015. He added in prepared remarks the joint venture puts EDEN in a position to address the need for multifamily housing solutions in high-growth markets at an even greater scale.
Jacobson said the partnership will enable EDEN to utilize Sterling’s extraordinary financial strength, investment experience and knowledge. Since 1972, Sterling Equities has directly, and through investment funds, acquired, developed or co-developed approximately 35.2 million square feet of real estate.
EDEN Multifamily’s immediate growth plans include opening up a regional office in Charlotte, N.C.
“EDEN hopes to open the new Charlotte offices in the next 60 days and follow up with additional market expansions as appropriate,” Jacobson told MHN.
As for current and future development plans, he said EDEN Multifamily is “working on opportunities throughout the state of Florida, the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee.”
Recent Florida Developments
To date, EDEN Multifamily’s developments have been located in central and South Florida. In March 2021, EDEN obtained a $44.1 million first mortgage construction loan to build EDEN Crystal Lake, a 288-unit, Class A garden-style property in Port Orange, Fla. The 19.5-acre community, located south of Daytona Beach, Fla., has one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Also in the spring of 2021, CE Development Partners, a joint venture between EDEN Multifamily and Cypress Equity Investments, began construction on EDEN West, a 212-unit, garden-style community on 6.2 acres in Tamarac, Fla. EDEN West has a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment homes within two four-story buildings.