Sarasota investment firm buys North Port's Emeralds Oaks

BUYER: TTJ Investments LLC (principals: Trudo Letschert I and II and Jordan Letschert), Sarasota

SELLER: Mark V Development LLC

PROPERTY: 4360 S. Biscayne Drive, North Port

PRICE: $1.35 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Voigt & Voigt PA, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Sarasota real estate investment firm TTJ Investments LLC purchased 21 units in the 28-unit Emeralds Oaks condominium and additional land for $1.35 million.

The price equated to $64,286 per existing unit.

The majority, 19 of the 21 units, were already leased to tenants. In addition, the vacant land has approvals, building pads and utilities to develop another 52 condominium units. The eight-acre development features a heated swimming pool and clubhouse. Its units have an average 1,425 square feet of living area.

The transaction was done as a short sale.

“We've been investing in single-family homes in the Bradenton-Sarasota market for a while now,” says Trudo Letschert II, who partners in TTJ Investments with his father, Trudo Letschert I, and brother Jordan. “We were looking to expand with a multifamily project, either a condominium or apartment project. The units were in really good physical shape; they were all built in in '07 or '08.”

In the near term, TTJ Investments plans to continue to lease out the existing units, but eventually, it expects to develop the additional condominium units.

“This is what we really found attractive about it,” Letschert says. “We don't have to do anything immediately with it except operate it just like the previous owner did. But once the timing is right, the approvals are in place for us to shift gears and go vertical.”