Bulk buyers have purchased nearly 600 new condo units in South Florida in the last year, shelling out about $125 million in cash for more than 630,000 square feet of livable space, according to a new report from Condo Vultures® LLC.
Since July 2008, nine bulk purchases – including four deals in the last month – have been recorded in South Florida at an average price of $198 per square foot.
The bulk deal with the highest price paid is $246 per square foot for 146 units in 50 Biscayne condominium in Downtown Miami back in July 2008. The lowest price paid is $63 per square foot for 51 condo-hotel units in the One Bal Harbour project that just closed within the last month. It is worth noting that the One Bal Harbour deal was contingent upon the buyer also acquiring the common areas and land of the condo-hotel tower from the seller for $12 million in a separate transaction recorded by a different entity.
"The common denominator present in every one of these transactions – has been the buyers’ focus on overall quality. Every deal has occurred in a project that is well designed and/or located."
The latest deal to close involved a South Beach investor who purchased 15 units for $4.2 million in the Marina Blue condominium tower on Biscayne Boulevard in Greater Downtown Miami across from the American Airlines Arena, according to the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database. Maurizio Cavalieri paid an average of $207 per square foot for 20,293 square feet of saleable space. Cavalieri’s acquisition consists of 13 two-bedroom units and two one-bedroom units at Marina Blue.
The seller was Lendco Florida LLC with Harvey L. Armstrong which provided a $30.5 million mezzanine loan to the Marina Blue developer in February 2008. A year later in March 2009, Lendco Florida’s mortgage was satisfied after the California-based lender acquired 54 units with 70,300 square feet in Marina Blue for $15 million, or $213 per square foot, according to Condo Vultures® research using Miami-Dade County records.At the end of the second quarter, developers were still in possession of about 9,400 of the 23,000 new units constructed in Greater Downtown Miami. Developers constructed 83 new projects in a 60-block stretch of Greater Downtown Miami, which is defined as an area stretching from the Rickenbacker Causeway north to the Julia Tuttle Causeway, Interstate-95 east to Biscayne Bay.
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