Apartment Moves

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Panhandle

Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets, Chicago, arranged financing and a joint-venture partnership for a two-property, student housing portfolio in Florida.

         Freddie Mac provided the $86.7 million in debt for the student housing portfolio, Seminole Grand in Tallahassee and The Enclave and in Gainesville, while Madison International Realty, New York, through a joint venture partnership with Collier Cos. of Gainesville, acquired an 80 percent interest in the existing ownership entity. The Collier Cos. is an owner/operator in the student housing industry with a 95% occupied portfolio that exceeds 22,000 beds.

         James Tramuto, Jubeen Vaghefi, and Denny St. Romain led JLL in arranging the loan and joint venture for the portfolio acquisition, valued at nearly $125 million.

         "This joint venture is really a great real-time example of a trend that we have been seeing in the student housing market for quite some time, which is new institutional capital coming into the space with an appetite for quality product and quality sponsors," Tramuto said. "This is Madison’s first investment in the student housing space, and while the returns and asset quality were certainly attractive selling points, the overwhelming drivers for the company’s investment in a new asset class were the strength of the sponsor and student housing [potential]."

         The senior mortgage loan on Seminole Grand, a $44.85 million fixed-rate loan at 5.17 percent, carries a seven-year term and one year of interest-only amortization. The 486-unit Seminole Grand was renovated in 2008 and has 1,554 beds with a 98% occupancy rate as of fall 2010.

The senior mortgage loan on the Enclave, a $41.86 million fixed rate loan at 5.16 percent, also carries a seven-year term and one year of interest-only amortization. The Enclave, adjacent to the University of Florida campus, has 412 units, 1,076 beds, and was 97% occupied as of fall 2010.

North Central Florida

         Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of The Courtyards, a 375-bedroom student housing community in Gainesville. Dorothy Jackman andTravis Prince in M&M’s Tampa office, represented the seller, Trimark Properties. The buyer is an owner/developer operating in Florida. The Courtyards is a dorm-style student housing community situated on a split site.

Central Florida

         Reporting its third Orlando-area apartment buy in the past eight months totaling 800 units, Tampa-based Blue Rock Partners, LLC, in a strategic partnership with Konover South, LLC, Deerfield Beach, acquired the 288-unit Sutton Place Apartment Homes near in Winter Park for nearly $18.2 million.

         With nearly 4,500 units in 15 communities in the Orlando and Tampa Bay markets - a 50% increase in just two years - Blue Rock plans to invest an additional $2.1 million in improvements at Sutton Place, which will be re-branded and marketed as The Park at Sutton Place. 

         The partnership’s latest acquisition - its fifth in 25 months - follows its October 2010 purchase of the 344-unit Mallard Cove Apartments on South Conway Road, Orlando, now The Park at Cambridge, and its August 2010 purchase of the 168-unit Woodbridge Apartments, now The Park at Canterbury.

            CB Richard Ellis negotiated the sale of Milan, a 240-unit community in the Altamonte Springs/Apopka area of the Orlando MSA. Completed in 1999, the Milan was purchased for condo conversion in 2006, and 67 units closed individually as condos. The remaining 173 units reverted to rentals, and CBRE represented the seller in the bulk sale of those units. Shelton Granade and Luke Wickham brokered the transaction.

Bay Area

         Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP has closed the sale of The Estates at Tuscany Ridge, a 450-unit, Class AA multi-housing community in Tampa. HFF marketed the property on behalf of the seller, Clifton, NJ-based Blue Granite Partners, LLC. Camden Property Trust purchased the community for an undisclosed amount. HFF was also involved in the prior sale to Blue Granite Partners, LLC from Fidelity Investments in 2010. 

         Completed in 2007, the property was 95%-leased at time of sale.

         Tampa-based Blue Rock Partners bought the 244-unit Palm Grove in Tampa for $5.5 million, or $22,746 per unit, from Alliance ES Palm Grove. That price is down nearly 50% from the property’s 2008 sale point of $10.7 million.

         Darron Kattan, Bob Goldfinger, and Kevin Kelleher of Franklin Street Real Estate Svcs. represented the seller in the transaction. Palm Grove was built in 1969. Blue Rock plans a $2 million renovation to improve the property to B class.

         "Palm Grove was a typical foreclosure story in Florida.  It was overleveraged and took a few years for the lender, a CMBS special servicer, to take control and be able to sell the property," said Kattan. "In the meantime, the property suffered and was in need of significant rehab.  The offers were abundant and competitive.

         "The buyer chosen had a proven track record for similar rehab deals. The buyer will likely spend $10,000-$15,000/unit in rehab, not far off the amount he spent for the property itself. They will transform it from a run-down C-class property to a stable B-class community."

         Bethesda, MD-based Beech Street Capital, LLC provided a $16 million Fannie Mae conventional loan for the acquisition of the 336-unit Sawgrass Cove in Bradenton. Beech Street is a Fannie Mae DUS® lender, a Freddie Mac Program Plus® Seller Servicer, and an FHA Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) and LEAN lender. Atlas Real Estate Partners—a real estate investment firm that specifically seeks multifamily and note acquisitions in New York, Massachusetts, Florida, and Texas—acquired the property.

         Marcus & Millichap handled the sale of three small communities. A St. Petersburg LLC sold the 59-unit Courtyard Apts. in St. Petersburg for $1.175 million, or $19,915 per unit, to an undisclosed buyer. M&M’s Michael P. Regan, Francesco P. Carriera, and Nicholas Meoli brokered the tranaction. Courtyard was built in 1960 and 60% occupied at time of sale.

         A Tampa-based private investor sold the 24-unit Bay Villa Apts. in Tampa to a Tampa partnership for $1.45 million, or  $60,417 per unit. Casey Babb, CCIM, and Luis Baez handled the sale. Bay Villa was originally built in the 1920s and is a newly renovated Class B+ historic apartment community located in the affluent Hyde Park/SoHo Tampa location. 

         A private investor from Palm Harbor sold the 33-unit Midway Gardens in Largo to a St. Petersburg-based LLC for $840,000, or $25,454 per unit. Regan, Carriera, and Meoli handled the transaction. Midway Gardens was constructed in 1971.

Southeast Florida

         Waterton Residential is continuing to expand its footprint and portfolio in Florida with its most recent acquisition of the 224-unit Lakeview Cove in North Fort Lauderdale. Lakeview Cove is the fourth asset acquired this year as part of Waterton Residential Property Venture XI, a $500 million discretionary multifamily investment fund. The community was built in 1997 by American Land and had been managed by Bridge Real Estate Group. Waterton Residential closed the transaction June 22 with a Fannie Mae loan at 65% loan-to-cost. Avery Klann and Hampton Beebe of Apartment Realty Advisors brokered the sale.

         Waterton plans to implement a value-add, physical upgrade renovation program at Lakeview Cove. Renovation plans include updates to unit interiors, exterior common areas and amenities. 

Southwest Florida

         PAC Investors has purchased the 78-unit Laurel Ridge Apts. in Naples from Cypress Point LP for $3.32 million, or $42,564 per unit. Jonathan Richards of CB Richard Ellis' Naples office and Thomas Fischer of the firm's Columbus, OH office represented the seller in the transaction.