SDG Apartments buys Sundance Grove

BUYER: SDG Apartments LLC (principal: Richard Riffel), Ruskin
SELLER: Edison 168 LLC
PROPERTY: 2427 E. Mall Drive, Fort Myers
PRICE: $3.6 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $11.67 million, September 2005
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Williams Parker Harrison Dietz & Getzen, Sarasota
PLANS, DESCRIPTION: SDG Apartments LLC, a limited liability company owned by Richard Riffel, purchased the Sundance Grove apartment complex on Mall Drive next to the Edison Mall for $3.6 million.

The complex houses 150 residential units on the upper levels and 15 commercial suites on the ground floor. The purchase price equated to $21,818 per unit.

“It was previously purchased to turn into condos, but the market collapsed,” says Riffel. “I basically wound up purchasing it from a bank in Miami. There were a limited number of residents there right now, and it needs work. We have some cosmetic stuff to work on, things like the parking. But mainly this is just about bringing the interiors from '74 to 2010.”

The complex is more than 50% vacant.

Riffel plans to start leasing the complex in five to six months.

TLC Management LLC in Ruskin will manage the apartment community.

Riffel owns two other apartment communities along the Gulf Coast, including the Cimarron Lake Apartments in Sarasota.