ORLANDO-On the market for only three weeks, the newly completed, 398-unit, 16-building Douglas Grand at MetroWest apartment community has been sold for $69 million or a record per-unit price of $173,367.
Chicago-based MCZ Development/Centrum Properties paid Winter Park developer Doug Hoeksema, a principal in Douglas Partners, $144.72 per sf for the 477,600-sf asset at 6101 MetroWest Blvd., near Universal Orlando in southwest Orlando. Douglas Grand was 60% leased at closing.
"High quality construction and unit design helped Douglas Grand at MetroWest to set a price point $25,000-per-unit higher than any other transaction to date in the Greater Orlando region," Kevin Judd, senior vice president of Boca Raton-based Apartment Realty Advisors, tells GlobeSt.com. Judd and ARA principal Marc deBaptiste negotiated for the developer. The buyer represented itself.
The deal was done at this time because the buyer wanted "to take advantage of [strong] condo conversion interest in Orlando," Judd tells GlobeSt.com. The property represents "one of the most attractive condominium conversion opportunities in Central Florida."
Judd adds, "Condominium converter demand in Greater Orlando has been bolstered by a 34% increase in median [single-family] home prices over the past year and the Orlando MSA's No. 8 ranking among the nation's highest home price appreciation level increase over the same period."
The transaction took six months to complete, from contract signing to closing. Douglas Grand's 398 units are made up of 158 three-story townhomes and 240 apartment units. The average asking base rent range is $720 per month or $1.12 per sf for a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment to $1,670 per month or 95 cents per for a four-bedroom, three-bath townhome. The average living area in the units is 641 sf to 1,766 sf.
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