Landmark Apartments UM Cloisters is still unfinished
Moving in never goes smoothly for college students, but rarely does it end up in a hotel for weeks.
Such is the case for the prospective tenants of the Cloisters student housing complex near the University of Miami, developed by Landmark Properties. Residential students were notified by the Real Estate Department on Sunday, August 13, that their apartments would not be ready for their arrival the following Friday, according to an email obtained by The real deal. Lessons started last Monday.
“An unexpected and unfortunate delay has resulted in our building contractor postponing completion of the project,” the letter read.
Just 12 days ago, the management team was urging tenants to “Move In, Groove In” in an email laced with psychedelic trappings and advice in preparation for the big day.
We suggest you make your first payment by August 1st to avoid any delays in the transfer process! is reading.
Instead of moving the students to their rented apartments, the Athens-based Landmark Company put them in hotel rooms at the Thesis Hotel Miami. Thesis is a four-star hotel located near the Coral Gables University campus that features a swimming pool, gym, and free transportation to school. The developer, led by CEO Wes Rogers, also offered tenants a daily stipend of $50 for food and reimbursement for storage of personal items in the interim, according to the letter.
Amanda Muhammad, a sophomore at the University of Miami, filmed a TikTok from her room on the thesis set to Taylor Swift’s song “Never Grow Up.” The lyrics of “Here I Am in My New Apartment” are openly critical of the fact that she wasn’t in her new apartment.
@redcupmiami Victim of the Monasteries #umiami #universityofmiami #collegelife #miami #fyp #collegehousing #collegehousingcrisis #collegeapartment #taylorswift #nevergrowup
♬ Never Grow Up by tswift – Kachowwww
Mohamed said she knew the delay was “not what[Landmark]wanted to happen”. However, she is disappointed to be in a hotel room instead of her one-bedroom apartment, which would be closer to the classroom. She is on the waiting list for a mini-fridge and microwave, and is doing her laundry in the only washing machine on the fourth floor of the hotel.
After visiting the Cloisters by car with her parents, the journalism student also suspects her move-in date will come anytime soon. “Looking at the outside alone, there seems to be a lot of work to be done,” she said.
In its letter dated August 13, Landmark offered September 2 and 3 as the new move-in dates for the tenants.
The developer offered a less specific timeline in a statement for TRD, Writing, “We expect to welcome all residents of Cloisters Miami by early September.”
Landmark noted that Cloisters still required building work in addition to provincial government approvals. Records show that the apartment complex has yet to obtain a temporary certificate of occupancy.
She also confirmed that rents would be expected to be paid, even if construction delays continued. “Landmark plans to follow the payment schedules as set out in the lease agreement,” it said in a separate statement.
The general contractor for the project, Miami-based BDI Construction, did not respond to requests for comment.
@thecloistersmiami #CapCut
♬ original sound – The Cloisters Miami
Landmark purchased the Cloisters site for $23.3 million in 2021. The acquisition included the existing apartment complex at 5830 Southwest 57th Avenue, and an adjacent 2-acre vacant lot.
Last year, the developer announced plans to expand the monasteries, adding 36 townhouses with 168 bedrooms to the vacant land, and renovating existing units. According to the plans, the completed Cloisters development will have 115 units, 296 bedrooms and 191 parking spaces. The Winter family’s W5 group and private equity firm Peninsula US Real Estate are also investors in the project.
Landmark Properties owns student housing complexes across Florida and across the country, with $11 billion in assets under management, according to a recent press release. And in an interview with CNBC on Thursday, CEO Rogers noted that the company is focusing on top 200 universities, such as the University of Miami, many of which have a housing shortage. In the interview, he said that high demand and lack of supply for student apartments meant “consistent and very stable cash flows over a long period of time”.
Players in the real estate sector are aware of the profitability of student accommodation. In 2021, Landmark will partner with investment giant Blackstone in a $748 million joint venture to acquire a 5,400-bed student housing portfolio. Last year, Blackstone doubled down on its student housing efforts and bought American Campus Communities for $12.8 billion.
