City entity buys foreclosed townhome community

BUYER: Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation Inc. (principals: Lemuel Teal, Bill Barnwell, Joseph D'Alessandro, Peter Routsis-Arroyo and Doug Hogg), Fort Myers
SELLER: Bank of Florida Southwest
PROPERTY: a portion of Covington Meadows Circle west of Beth Stacey Boulevard, Lehigh Acres
PRICE: $560,000
PREVIOUS PRICE: $1.5 million, July 2005
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Henderson Franklin Starnes & Holt PA, Fort Myers

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation Inc., a nonprofit entity of the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers, purchased the 41-acre, partially built Parkwood Palms residential development for $560,000. The property, which was designed to house 41 townhomes, a pool and clubhouse, had 16 townhome units in various stages of construction at the time of the sale.

“This is the first part of our rental strategy,” says Marcia Davis, director of real estate development for the Fort Myers housing authority. “We were awarded over $4.2 million from the county to buy foreclosed properties and rehab them. One of the caveats of the money is that it has to be used for affordable rentals. So we're going to be rehabbing the property to rent it to families with an income of 50% at or below the area median income.”

The developer can't use the grant money for building new structures. Davis estimates the entire project, including the property acquisition, will cost the authority $1.4 million.
Construction is expected to start toward the end of the year.

In October, Bank of Florida Southwest foreclosed on the property from developer LA LLC.