Halpin-Wear Pays $40M for Echelon at Uptown Apartments

The five-story, North Orange Avenue property was developed in 2002 by Echelon Communities for an estimated $13 million or about $53,000 per unit, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. The property will be renamed Uptown Place with project unit prices ranging from $140,000 to $400,000. About 80%, or 195, of the 244 condos have already been sold.

Those prices are considered "very competitive compared to the median prices owners of single-family and townhome properties are now asking Downtown," Dean Fritchen, a senior broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, tells GlobeSt.com.

The overall median price of existing single-family residences has climbed to $204,500 from $106,324 in April 2000, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. Comparable Downtown existing residences are in the $250,000 to $500,000 range, depending on size and location, area brokers marketing several of the listings tell GlobeSt.com. That average asking price range is up from about $150,000 to $300,000 five years ago.

Halpin is also a partner in North Pointe Place, a condo community 95% sold out and still being completed on North Orange Avenue, across from the main campus of Florida Hospital. That project will have 36 two-bedroom units, 18,000 sf of retail and a 129-space parking garage. Condo prices start at $230,000.

The new condo conversions and regular new condo developments planned or under way bring to about 6,000 the number of total condo homes in and around Downtown, according to various Realtor sources. That number is up from about 1,500 total Downtown condos existing five years.