Century Homebuilders Group’s Sergio Pino (Century Homebuilders Group, Google Maps)
Shortly after acquiring Florida City’s former RV park, Treo Group formed a joint venture with Sergio Pino to build townhomes on the 16-acre site.
The deal involves Pino’s Century Parc Villas West LLC purchasing 10.5 acres for $6.5 million, with $5.2 million in financing provided by Treo Group, according to records. Pino heads Coral Gables-based Century Homebuilders Group.
Pino and Treo Group Principal Rolando Delgado told The Real Deal that Century will build 131 townhouses at the project, called Century Parc Villas West. Miami-based Treo will redevelop the remaining 5.5 acres into commercial properties, including a possible hotel or an assisted living facility, Delgado said.
In addition, Century Parc and Treo signed an agreement in which Pino’s entity will pay Treo a portion of the net proceeds from every townhouse sold, records show.
Treo recently paid $6.3 million for the Florida City Campsite & RV Park. The seller, the city of Florida City, last year settled a wrongful eviction lawsuit with former park tenants in order to proceed with the sale.
Treo had planned on building a mixed-use project anchored by a 288-unit market-rate rental component, Delgado said. South Florida’s multifamily market remains the region’s hottest sector, as local and out-of-state developers are feasting on existing properties and development sites. They want to capitalize on record rents and tenant demand, according to a recent Cushman & Wakefield report.
However, Treo switched its redevelopment proposal as a result of rising construction costs for multifamily buildings, flat rental rates in Florida City, and competition from affordable and workforce housing rental projects in the area, Delgado said.
“We thought maybe we should explore other avenues and decided it was better to do 131 townhouse units for sale, rather than 288 rental units,” Delgado said. “It is very hard to compete with rents that other people are fetching with all kinds of government incentives.”
Century Parc will build and market the townhouses, while Treo focuses on developing four commercial parcels, Delgado said. Treo and Pino have done two other similar joint venture projects, he added.
Pino said Century Parc Villas West is the fourth townhouse project in the area under the Parc Villas name. “We made a good deal,” Pino said. “Definitely land values have gone up very fast in that area. There is a lot of construction going on.”
Prices will be in the low-$300,000 range, Pino said. The community will have a clubhouse and a pool, but plans are still in the preliminary stage, he added.
Century Parc Villas West would break ground in six months, once the project gets zoning approval, Pino said. The townhomes would be completed in 12 to 18 months, he said.
