OXON HILL, MD-A rare value-add multifamily project traded herefor $9.5 million. The price may seem low--after all the property isa 305-unit community. The catch is that occupancy was 35% when thetrade was being negotiated. Today it is effectivelyempty.

That, however, was the intent of the buyer, Dragone Realty,which acquired the complex, Azalea Woods, as an opportunistic playto develop workforce housing, “which is our business model,” saysprincipal Vito Dragone. “Our biggest problem has been that wehaven’t been able to find many opportunities in value-addmultifamily.” That is beginning to change, however, he tellsGlobeSt.com. “People have been sitting on their properties for thepast two years, but now we are seeing more come tomarket.”

None, though, offered the value-add opportunity of Azalea Woods.Located at 1101 Kennebec St., the property had been seized by thespecial servicer about a year ago. “The property had fallen intodisrepair and due to some regulatory issues that came up, theprevious owners lost their business license,” explains CB RichardEllis’ Mike Muldowney. “That is when the downward spiral inoccupancy really began,” he tells GlobeSt.com. Muldowney, alongwith Bill Roohan, Andrew Boyer, Michael Rudolph, JonathanGreenberg, Brian Margerum, Martha Hastings and Trish Bonebrake,brokered the transaction.