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Orlando-based Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors handled the sale of two multifamily properties in Tallahassee.

Mica Creek-Sagamore MF Venture V: Osceola, LLC sold the 41-unit/164-bed Sweet Bay Club Apartments on Old Bainbridge Road for $3.150 million, or $19,200 per bed. Sweet Bay was built in 2003 and was comprised of all 4-bedroom, 4-bath units averaging 1596 square feet per unit. The buyer, Varden Capital Properties, LLC, plans to reposition the property toward a more student-friendly environment.

The 180-unit Monterey Apartments sold for $3.75 million, or $20,833 per unit. Built in 1974, the average size was 989 square feet per unit. The seller, Monterey Associates LTD, a Wisconsin limited partnership, had owned the property since it was built. The buyer, Cabat Properties LLC, plans a major renovation and repositioning of the property. Gerald Smith, senior investment advisor for Smith Equities, brokered both deals.

"The Tallahassee multifamily market remains very strong in both occupancy and rents. The combination of a strong student population along with the government infrastructure in Tallahassee provides the demographics for a high level of investor demand for this market," said Smith.

FaverGray plans to break ground in September on the $24.1 million, 300-unit Hacienda Club Apartments, a Class A multifamily community located at 8685 Baymeadows Road E. in Jacksonville. Amenities will include a pool, clubhouse, gazebos and a car care center. Fort Family Investments is the developer of the property and Group 4 Design is the project architect.

Palatine Capital Partners has purchased the 180-unit Villas at Dames Point Crossing Apts. in Jacksonville from Dames Point LLC for $14.02 million, or $77,889 per unit. John Stone, Robert Selton and Douglas Blair of Colliers Arnold represented the seller, while Brad Coe of Horizon Realty Mgmt. represented the seller.

CBRE completed the sale of the 394-unit Legends at Lake Nona, an upscale apartment community in Orlando, to Memphis-based MAA. Shelton Granade and Luke Wickham of CBRE’s Orlando office exclusively represented the seller in the transaction. Completed in 2005, the Legends at Lake Nona is just minutes from the elite Lake Nona Golf & Country Club and only two miles from the emerging Medical City development, a new 600-acre science and technology park. The Legends at Lake Nona community provides residents with a wide array of amenities including a resort-style pool, lighted tennis courts, a basketball court, outdoor grills and fitness and business centers. The apartment homes average 1,069 square feet and offer nine-foot ceilings, garden tubs and large walk-in closets.

CBRE also completed the sale of the 600-unit Sun Lake Apts. in Lake Mary for $39,601,000, or $66,001 per unit, to Harbor Group. The property was completed in 1988. The buyer had to assume the existing financing, and will finish stabilizing the property, which was largely vacated during a construction project on site. Shelton Granade and Luke Wickham of CBRE represented the seller, AIMCO.

Orlando-based Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors (SEREIA) has closed on the sale of Kiwi Apts., a 16-unit multifamily property located in Longwood, for $620,000, or $38,750 per unit. Robert E. Smith, CCIM, and Derek Smith represented the seller in the transaction. Mark Raponi of Resource Realty Services, Inc. represented the buyer. "The single-story buildings are in an excellent location," Raponi said. "With all the major capital improvements planned by the purchaser, the property will achieve a brand new feel."

Kiwi Apartments was originally built in 1970 and was 81 percent occupied at the time of closing.

Blue Rock Partners LLC closed June 29 on a $6.55 million acquisition and bridge loan for the 208-unit Woodside Apts. in Kissimmee, built in 1974. The sales price equates to $31,490 per unit. The deal was financed through a regional bank with a five-year, non-recourse loan, with investment and merchant banking firm Aztec Group Inc. representing the borrower in the deal.

The seller of the property was Freddie Mac. CBRE’s Investment Properties Group, Orlando, brokered the sale, which was inked in May. The new owner is changing the property’s name to the Park at Sorrento, and it will undergo a $2.5 million renovation over the next year, that will include work on its common areas and all its units. The goal, according to Blue Rock, is to reposition and re-brand the property to be more like the rest of the company’s portfolio.

A joint venture between Novare Group, Batson-Cook Development Co. and Palmetto Realty Advisors has broken ground on the $63 million, 320-unit SkyHouse Orlando Apts., a high-rise project at Livingston St. and Magnolia Ave. It is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2013.

The 240-unit Silver Pines Apts. in Orlando has sold for $6.26 million, or $26,083 per unit. Hal Warren, Cole Whitaker and Jason Stanton of Hendricks and Partners represented the seller, a Dallas-based special servicer.

The hottest sector of commercial real estate related to the first phase of Central Florida’s $1.3 billion, 61-mile SunRail commuter rail is coming to fruition. Developers are gearing up to start construction early next year on four apartment projects totaling nearly $121 million and 931 units at SunRail stations in downtown Orlando, Lake Mary and Longwood. The projects will be within walking distance of their respective platforms and be completed before the trains begin running in summer 2014. Additionally, the projects are expected to bring residents close enough to the stations to encourage commercial development.

Dallas-based Inland American Communities Group, Inc., completed construction in August of the five-story, 416-unit/995-bed University House student apartment community, located at 3200 North Alafaya Trail at the University of Central Florida. Due to its innovative design and premium amenities, the property achieved the milestone of being 100 percent pre-leased in early summer 2012. The community began serving the students of UCF in August.

"With the completion of this project on time and under budget, Inland American showed the ability to execute and develop premium student housing properties desired by students," said J. Travis Roberts, president of IAC. "Going forward, we plan to expand our investment in this growing asset class by completing other developments, including a project scheduled to be finished next fall at California State University Fullerton, and acquiring additional purpose-built premier properties, located on or just off campus, at leading universities."

Charlotte, NC-based Crescent Resources LLC, has started work on a $68 million community in Tampa called Circle Bayshore, which will have eight stories and 367 units, including studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Each unit will include high ceilings, walk-in closets and separate linen closets. Kitchens will be built with granite counter tops, a prep island and stainless steel appliances. The bathrooms will also have granite counter tops, as well as custom wood cabinetry.

Building amenities will include a two-story health club and fitness center, swimming pool, outdoor area with grilling stations and fire pit, business center and a club room. Additionally, a parking garage will be available for residents and their guests. Circle Bayshore will also feature many green and sustainable elements. The community is being designed to meet LEED certification requirements.

Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services handled the sale of The Townhomes at Lake Butler, a nine-unit apartment property, for a sales price of $460,000 ($51,111 per unit). The seller was TD Bank NA and the property was sold in an auction format. The buyer, Farland Realty, LLC, was secured and represented by James Vestal, an investment specialist in Marcus & Millichap’s Tampa office. The Townhomes at Lake Butler was built in 2006 and is situated on 2.92 acres of land.

Marcus & Millichap closed on the sale of the 56-unit Seminole Village Apts. in Seminole, built in 1984, for $2.65 million, or $47,321 per unit. Nicholas Meoli, Michael P. Regan and Francesco P. Carriera of the firm’s Tampa office, represented both the seller and the buyer, private investors based in Florida.

Marcus & Millichap also handled the sale of Cityview Townhomes, a partially built town-home community situated on 11.8 acres in Tampa, for a sales price of $2.5 million.

Casey Babb, CCIM, acted as a transactional broker to facilitate the sale between seller, a regional bank and the buyer, New Life Village, a Tampa-based non-profit buyer who will soon be realizing its mission to provide housing to foster children and low-income seniors who will serve as surrogate grandparents.

Cityview Townhomes is located at 4926 Lake Venice Avenue in the Palm River area of East Tampa and was originally planned as a for-sale town-home community. After delivering the clubhouse, pool and four residential buildings in 2006, construction stopped and the property made its way through a lengthy foreclosure before finally selling in mid-August.

A Florida-based investor bought the 96-unit Bryan Place Apts. in Tampa from a Kansas institutional investor for $4.985 million, or $51,927 per unit. Nicholas Meoli, Michael P. Regan and Francesco P. Carriera of Marcus & Millichap handled the transaction. The property was built in 1986.

Atlanta-headquartered ARA handled the sale of the 296-unit Lakes at Pembroke in Pembroke Pines for $42 million, or $141,891 per unit. ARA South Florida-based Principals Marc deBaptiste and Avery Klann, along with Senior Vice President Hampton Beebe, represented LaSalle Investment Management in the sale to Atlanta, Ga.-based Stockbridge Capital.

"The owners of Lakes at Pembroke have superbly maintained the property while demonstrating tremendous value-add potential," noted Avery Klann. "Since 2001, nearly $3.2 million was invested in interior upgrades, $5.5 million was invested in exterior capital improvements such as resurfaced pools, monument signs, parking lot enhancements, landscaping improvements and upgrades to amenity areas."

Lynd Development and LNR Property have acquired the development (air) rights for a residential development in Miami from Skyline Equities Realty. Equity funding for the deal was provided by Blackrock Realty Advisors, though the precise figures are unspecified, and Wells Fargo is providing the construction loan.

The buyers will break ground shortly on EnV Brickell, a 390-unit, 35-story tower slated for completion in 2014. The new development will include 150 one-bedroom and 210 two-bedroom rental units, and a one-acre recreation deck featuring a swimming pool, spa, gazebos and cabanas.

The property will rise above an existing Publix grocery store and a parking garage used by the Shops at Mary Brickell Village, a lifestyle center. According to San Antonio-based Lynd and Miami Beach-based LNR, sorting out the details of the new deal took about a year.

Bell Partners bought the 396-unit Winners Circle Apts. in Parkland from Winners Circle Realty Holding Co./Bridge Real Estate Group for $64.7 million, or $163,383 per unit, and plans to rename it Bell Parkland.

Beach Street Capital provided $20.4 million in in Freddie Mac Capital Markets Execution loans for the acquisition of the 166-unit Golf Villas at Sabal Palm and 276-unit Palo Verde, both in West Palm Beach. Mayan Capital sold Palo Verde for $15 million, or $54,347 per unit to YMP Real Estate Mgmt. Related Group sold Golf Villas, which it had owned since 1984, to YMP for $10.75 million, or $64,759 per unit.

A Miami-based LLC bought the 96-unit Okeechobee Villas in Hialeah from another Miami-based LLC for $8.1 million ($84,375 per unit). The property is 97 percent leased. Marcus & Millichap’s Evan Kristol, Joseph Thomas, Felipe Echarte and Still Hunter III handled the transaction.

Miami-based Fifteen Group sold the 268-unit Meadow Brook Preserve in Naples for $22 million, or $82,089 per unit, to New York-based Atlas Real Estate Partners. Meadow Brook Preserve was built in 1997 as Turtle Creek Apts. and financed by the original developer under the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTIC) program. Fifteen Group acquired it for $12 million from the Florida Housing Finance Program in October 2010 and conducted extensive upgrades. The property was named Most Improved Community of the Year in 2011 by the Southwest Florida Apartment Association.