Alta Lists Under-Construction UM Student Tower in South Miami
Alta is marketing its under-construction UM student tower without a broker, betting a 2026 close locks in an opportunity-zone tax break for the buyer.
Alta Development has put its under-construction student housing tower near the University of Miami up for sale while the building is still rising, The Real Deal reported September 17. The site, in South Florida at 5959 SW 71st Street and 7090 SW 59th Place in South Miami, is being marketed as SoMi Walk: a 16-story, 173-unit, 675-bed tower a short walk from UM’s Coral Gables campus. Alta is running the sale itself, without a broker.
Why it matters
Listing a project mid-construction is a merchant-build exit, not a hold. Alta bought the 1.01-acre assemblage, then home to a hotel, for $29,000,000 in May, according to Hoodline. Putting the finished-but-unstabilized asset on the market now, rather than leasing it up first, only pencils if the opportunity-zone clock is the bigger driver than stabilized rent roll. The federal opportunity-zone program’s current rules lapse at year-end, and a buyer who closes in 2026 locks in the full tax deferral; one who waits for a leased-up 2027 or 2028 sale does not. That trade-off, tax benefit now versus proven rents later, is the exact math every other SoFla student-housing sponsor sitting on an unstabilized OZ deal has to run this quarter.
The numbers
Alta has not disclosed a formal asking price, but The Real Deal reported the firm is targeting a sale in the mid-$200,000,000 range. Against the $29,000,000 land basis, that is roughly 8 to 9 times what Alta paid for dirt in May, before a dollar of the vertical construction cost is counted. Delivery is expected in fall 2028, with Alta staying on to finish construction under contract and close only once the building is complete.
What’s next
The deal tests whether buyers will pay a premium now for the opportunity-zone benefit alone, on a building with no operating history and two more years of construction risk ahead. If Alta finds a taker before December, expect other South Florida sponsors holding unstabilized OZ assets to test the same exit rather than wait for a lease-up that the tax rules no longer reward.