Zumot Real Estate Management buys, renames Canterbury Lane

BUYER: Jasmine Terrace LLC (principal: Rajai Zumot), McLean,Va.

SELLER: SBC 2010-1 LLC

PROPERTY: 1250 Skipper Road, Tampa

PRICE: $4.1 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $5 million, February 2002

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Phelps Dunbar LLP, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An affiliated company of McLean, Va.-based Zumot Real Estate Management Inc. purchased the 319-unit Canterbury Lane Apartments for $4.1 million.

The price equated to $12,853 per unit.

The more than 40-year-old apartment complex was 80% occupied at the time of the sale. The center, which occupies a 14.5-acre lot, has since been renamed the Jasmine Terrace.

“I bought it for a good price because the former owner wasn't taking care of it,” says Rajai Zumot, president of Zumot Real Estate Management Inc. “We saw there was lot of potential in the property. There's a lot of demand for that [affordable] cost segment in Tampa. We are working to make it safer and more tenant-friendly.”

The property is currently 91% leased.

Zumot Real Estate Management has strictly owned and operated in office and industrial properties nationwide, but it chose to expand into multifamily properties in Florida recently starting with a facility in Jacksonville.

“Multifamily has always tended to be a low return on investment until we got into Florida,” Zumot says. “Prices are so depressed it made economic sense here. Apartments are the safest of all commercial real estate in the right markets.”