BAF Buys Strategic Multifamily from Trade Street

ORLANDO—An out-of-state investor just snapped up Oak Reserve at Winter Park, a 142-unit multifamily community in an affluent Central Florida city. Rockville, MD-based BAF Associates purchased the multifamily property from Aventura, FL-based Trade Street Residential for $11.7 million.

Though originally constructed in 1973, the multifamily property underwent a substantial $5 million renovation in 2007, significantly reducing its effective age. The REIT sold the multifamily community to free up capital for reallocation to newly constructed assets.  

ARA principals Kevin Judd, Marc deBaptiste, and Patrick Dufour, along with senior vice president Matt Wilcox, represented the seller. Dufour says, “The property has a history of strong rental occupancy, which was 92% at the time of sale.”

Oak Reserve is located less than 10 minutes from Downtown Orlando. Downtown Orlando, Central Florida Research Park, and the University of Central Florida, which are the area's major employment and educational centers with a combined total of over 70,000 employees, are all located within minutes of the multifamily property.

“Demand for infill product in core locations is unprecedented in today's market,” says Judd. “We had over 160 requests for investment packages on this asset.”

Greater Orlando's apartment market continues to show signs of growth as occupancy rates have increased a substantial 590 basis points since its trough in the first quarter 2010 to 94.7%, as of the fourth quarter 2012, according to ARA's numbers. The firm expects occupancy to continue increasing over the next two years.

“Full Sail University is located less than one mile south of Oak Reserve,” Judd says. “The University of Central Florida—recently named Florida's largest state university with enrollment of 58,500—is just over six miles from the property.”