MIAMI—The ink is drying on two bulk condo sales in South Florida as investors continue cleaning up distressed assets from the condo market crash in 2008. Collectively, 178 units sold for $12.6 million.

Franklin Street's Deme Mekras and Elliot Shainberg represented the buyers and sellers in both deals. One hundred four units at Windward Lakes Condominiums in Pompano Beach, FL sold for $9.6 million, or about $92,308 per unit. The project includes about 276 units.

“There are very few deals like this one left in South Florida,” Mekras tells GlobeSt.com. The seller was a privately-owned investment fund from Massachusetts that took title to the properties in a foreclosure action. The seller leased out the units while waiting for the real estate market to recover from its losses during the Great Recession.

“Most lenders who took title to foreclosed properties four to six years ago took action to get them off their books some time ago,” Shainberg tells GlobeSt.com. “Very few were able to hang on and ride out the downturn like our seller.”

Windward is located at 4001 West McNab Road in Pompano Beach. The complex was developed as rental apartments in 1992 and converted to condos. An affiliated entity of Hon Capital, an investment company based in Hollywood, FL, acquired the units.

A South Miami-Dade private real estate investor sold 74 of the 144 units at Southwood Condominiums in South Miami-Dade to a private real estate investor for $3.039 million or $41,075 per unit. Franklin reports eight different sellers including one entity, RAK Investment, which owned 53 of the units.

“One of the challenges to the deal was due to the fact that the subject units were owned by eight different sellers,” says Mekras. “But it was important for them to obtain enough units to control the association so that they can make value-added improvements to the property and remedy deficiencies in the condo association.”

Southwood is located at 11050 Southwest 197th Street in Miami. The buyer now owns over 50% of the complex, which gives it control of the condominium association. The buyer plans to renovate the interiors and common areas so that it can drive up rents on new leases and renewals. Currently, the average rent is $700 per month.

Want more on this topic? Check out my article on Key Trends in Dealing in Distressed Assets and Are There Still Distressed Assets to Buy?.

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