Canada's Osgoode Properties buys most of Fountains of Largo

BUYER: SWFL Holdings LLLP, Sarasota

SELLER: Platinum Ridge FL Condominiums

PROPERTY: Fountains of Largo, 13125 Wilcox Road, various units, Largo

PRICE: $4.3 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Ottawa-based Osgoode Properties purchased 135 units in the Fountains of Largo apartment complex for $4.3 million.

The price equated to $31,852 per unit or $33 per square foot.

The units offer a total of 128,400 square feet of residential space.

Built in 1973, the 160-unit Fountains of Largo was renovated in 2006 and 2007 as part of a condo conversion project that was never completed. The development, close to Indian Rocks Beach, consists of 16 two-story buildings.

The fractured condominium deal was originally planned as a bank-note sale, but eventually became a lender-approved short sale.

John Stone and Jason Stanton of Colliers Arnold represented the lender.

“It was a well-located asset that was purchased below replacement cost,” Stanton says. “The former owner just got caught up in the market downtown. The entire exterior of the complex was renovated. Only some of the 135 units had been renovated, the others were apartment quality.”

Stanton estimates 80% of the 135 units were leased at the time of the sale.

Osgoode Properties, founded in 1979, is one of eastern Canada's largest owners of residential rental properties. Calls to the firm for comment on the sale were not returned prior to publication.

The company has residential and commercial holdings in Toronto, Atlanta, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Florida. The company recently purchased the 174-unit Conquistador Village Apartments in Bradenton for $6 million. (See related story.)