Louisiana investor group buys Puritan Place Apartments

BUYER: Puritan Tampa LLC (principals Richard Paul Beaullieu), Lafayette, La.

SELLER: Blue Valley Apartments Inc.

PROPERTY: 7903 Holly Lea Court, Tampa

PRICE: $4.06 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $8.1 million, August 2006

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Weisman & Margolies PA, Boca Raton

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An investor group headed by Richard Beaullieu of Lafayette, La. purchased the 232-unit Puritan Place Apartments for $4.06 million.

The price equated to $17,500 per unit or $20.07 per square foot.

Built in 1970, Puritan Place Apartments contains eight efficiencies, 120 one-bedroom, 64 two-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom townhouses and 24 three-bedroom apartments. The 33-building, 204,468-square-foot development occupies a 11.56-acre site.

The complex was previously owned by lender Ocwen Loan Servicing Inc., which took it back in early 2010.

Darron Kattan, Bob Goldfinger and Kevin Kelleher of Franklin Street, handled the transaction.

Puritan Place is the investor group's fourth purchase in Central Florida, and its fifth is scheduled to close soon, according to Kattan. It owns various condominium units in Heritage at Temple Terrace and Woodridge at Carrollwood in Tampa and the Millennium Pointe Apartments multifamily development in Orlando.

“This is a group that isn't afraid to reposition or redevelop a property,” Kattan says. “It was 60% occupied at the time of the sale, and there's a lot of deferred maintenance. It was the classic story of an overleveraged investor buying at the peak of the market, and when rents went backward they couldn't stay ahead of the curve.”

The apartment unit interiors are in relatively decent shape, Kattan says, and the exterior curb-appeal items will likely be the new ownership's initial focus.

The purchase entity Puritan Tampa LLC mortgaged the property to Bank of Sunset and Trust Co. for $4 million.