Blue Rock Partners buys Palm Grove Apartments

BUYER: Palm Grove Property Holdings LLC, Tampa

SELLER: Alliance ES Palm Grove LLC

PROPERTY: 5039 Chalet Court, Tampa

PRICE: $5.5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $10.73 million, November 2008

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Thompson & Knight LLP, Dallas

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Tampa-based Blue Rock Partners LLC purchased the 244-unit Palm Grove Apartments for $5.55 million.

The price equated to $22,746 per unit and $20.02 per square foot.

The real estate management company owns several apartment communities and commercial developments in the Tampa Bay area and Orlando, including The Park at Kensington in Riverview, The Park at Knightsbridge in Brandon and The Park at Bay Plaza Business Park in Tampa.

Built in 1969, the development features 29, two-story concrete block and wood frame buildings. The community, which was previously bank owned, was 65% occupied at the time of the sale.

Darron Kattan, Bob Goldfinger and Kevin Kelleher, all of Franklin Street, represented the seller.

“The property was very old and tired and needed a complete repositioning from the new ownership,” Kattan says.

The buyers expect to invest $10,000 to $15,000 a unit to improve the units, he says. The goal of the renovation is to improve the well-located property from a C-class into a much more stable C+ to B-class property, according to Kattan.