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Panhandle

         A joint venture between Landmark Properties, Inc. and Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC commenced construction on a $37 million student cottage complex in Tallahassee to serve students of Florida State University, Tallahassee Community College and Florida A&M University. The Retreat at Tallahassee project represents the first of three 2012 deliveries for the joint venture, along with Raleigh and San Marcos. The joint venture will deliver roughly 2,100 new beds for the fall of 2012.

         Collegiate Construction, an affiliate of Landmark Properties, is the general contractor for the project, and KeyBank is providing the construction financing. Expanding over 30 acres, The Retreat at Tallahassee will be comprised of 178 residential units, totaling 710 beds.

Northeast Florida

         Memphis, TN-based Mid-America Apartment Communities purchased the 279-unit Tattersall at Tapestry Park from Arlington Properties, Inc. for $42.8 million, or $153,405 per unit.

         "It’s a record setter," said Matt Wilcox, vice president of Apartment Realty Advisors in Jacksonville. "That’s the biggest in a long time — the last sale of that magnitude was $147,000 a door for the Retreat at St. Johns at Kernan and [J. Turner Butler] boulevards."

The Jacksonville office of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. brokered the sale.

         In early May, Mid-America bought Atlantic Crossing on Gate Parkway for $24.1 million, or $120,500 per unit.

         The sales of Atlantic Crossing and Tattersall at Tapestry Park are a "tremendous sign" for multifamily property owners in the Southside/St. Johns Town Center submarket, said Erik Bjornson, a broker with Walchle Lear Multifamily Advisors.

         "It’s a further indication that that specific submarket has returned and performance is on the uptick," Bjornson said.

Earlier in June, Forbes.com named Jacksonville the second best city in the U.S. for renters.

Central Florida

         A foreign investor has bought the 14-unit Scot’s Arms Apts. in Orlando from a developer for $400,000, or $28,571 per unit. George Pjevach and Michael Donaldson of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services handled the transaction. Scot’s Arms, built in 1973, sits across from the University of Central Florida and was recently renovated.

Bay Area

         Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services brokered the lender-approved short sale of Chaparral Apts., a 444-unit 451,420sf multifamily property in Largo, built in 1971. The sales price of $14.3 million equates to $32,207 per unit and $32 psf. Norman Eastwood and Tal Frydman, handled the transaction between the seller, a Houston-based partnership, and the buyer, Massachusetts-based Aspen Square Mgmt. The property has been renamed Madison at Largo.

         Frydman noted that "The average apartment occupancy rate in Largo is 92% and at closing, Chaparral Apartments was approximately 50% vacant and had approximately 15 down units."

         Alberto and Myrna Lopez of Tampa purchased the 47-unit Panorama Apts. for $1.08 million. The price equated to $22,979 per unit or $30 per square foot. They have renamed the property Park View. Darron Kattan, Bob Goldfinger, and Kevin Kelleher with Franklin Street Real Estate Services handled the transaction. The couple already owns two smaller apartment communities in the Tampa area.

         The seller, a private investment group known as Habana Club Apartments LLC, purchased the note three months earlier and had started to stabilize the property prior to the sale. The 35,640-square-foot, gated apartment community was 60% occupied at the time of the sale.

         Marbella Partnership sold the 132-unit Marbella Apts. in Tampa to Tampa-based TMF 4 LLC for $2.05 million, which equates to $15,530 per unit/$17.54 per sq ft.
Michael P. Regan, Francesco P. Carriera, and Nicholas Meoli of Marcus & Millichap’s Tampa office handled the sale. Marbella was built in 1977.

         "This property represents a trend we have seen over the past three to four months with out-of-state investors entering back into the Florida multifamily market," Meoli said.

         Puritan Tampa LLC (principal Richard Paul Beaullieu of Lafayette, La.) bought the 232-unit Puritan Place in Tampa from Blue Valley Apartments Inc. for $4.06 million, or $17,500 per unit/$20.07 per sq ft. The community, built in 1970, was previously owned by lender Ocwen Loan Servicing Inc., which took it back in early 2010. Darron Kattan, Bob Goldfinger, and Kevin Kelleher of Franklin Street Residential handled the transaction.

         Rockville, MD-based CAPREIT bought the 432-unit Sabal Palm at Carrollwood Apts. in Tampa from Carrollwood Place Ltd. for $39 million, or $90,278 per unit. Byron Moger and Luis Elorza of Cushman & Wakefield’s Apartment Brokerage Services in Tampa handled the transaction. The community was built in 1995.

         An affiliate of Norfolk, VA-based Harbor Group International LLC purchased the 276-unit Sienna Bay in St. Petersburg from DT Sienna Bay LLC for $19.5 million, or $70,652 per unit. Built in two phases in 1974 and 1986, the property is currently 90% occupied.

Southeast Florida

         Chicago-based Waterton Associates, LLC sold the 218-unit Esperanza Apts. in Lake Worth to Newton, MA-based Robbins Property Associates for $9.3 million or $42,660 a unit. Avery Klann and Hampton Beebe in the Boca Raton office of Atlanta-based Apartment Realty Advisors (ARA) brokered the sale.

         "As value-add investment, Esperanza offers the buyer significant upside potential," said ARA Boca Raton Principal Avery Klann. "With the implementation of a comprehensive interior and exterior upgrade program, the buyer should achieve substantive NOI growth and the property will be well positioned to compete with newer Class B properties in the Palm Beach County market."

         Avery added that the Palm Beach County rental market experienced a positive shift in occupancy in 2010, after trending downward in the previous years.  MPF Research is predicting rent growth of at least 4% annually from 2011-2013 in all of Palm Beach County.

         The property was constructed in 1972 and 93% occupied at the time of the sale. 

         ARA also brokered the sale of the 180-unit Boca Colony in Boca Del Mar, master-planned development in South Palm Beach County. Klann and Beebe, along with Richard Donnellan, represented institutional advisor, Invesco Real Estate, in the sale to an affiliate of Bay Harbor Island, FL-based Atlantic & Pacific Companies.  

         Constructed in 1986 and 96% occupied at the time of the sale, Boca Colony is located on the north side of the Country Club at Boca Raton.    

         Finally, ARA brokered the sale of the 224-unit Lakeview Cove in Ft. Lauderdale to Waterton Associates, LLC for $26.4 million or $117,857 a unit. ARA represented New York City-based Lexin Capital in the sale of the $26.4 million, 224-unit community.  Lakeview Cove was constructed in 1997 and 92% occupied at the time of the sale.

         Marcus & Millichap brokered the sale of the 18-unit Middle River Apts. in Fort Lauderdale for $1.6 million, or $88,888 per unit. Joseph P. Thomas and David M. Greenberg handled the sale between private investors.

         Israel-based group PC Townhomes, LLC, purchased the 160-unit Palm Club Apts. for $7.8 million, or $48,750 per unit, from a court-appointed receiver.

         "South Florida’s multifamily market has witnessed strong investment activity over the last 15 months," said Calum Weaver, a sales professional with CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) in Miami.

         Weaver, along with CBRE’s Richard Tarquinio and Robert Given of CBRE’s Multi-Housing Group in South Florida, marketed Palm Club for sale on behalf of a court-appointed receiver.

         The property, built in 1993, was 90% occupied at the time of closing.