Avesta Homes LLC buys distressed Woodlawn Park

BUYER: 1626 18th LLC (Avesta Real Estate Fund I LLC), Tampa

SELLER: Woodlawn Apartments LP

PROPERTY: 1626 18th Avenue N, St. Petersburg

PRICE: $2.77 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $6.88 million, January 2005

TITLE FIRM ON DEED: All Florida Title Agency Inc., Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Aggressive multifamily buyer Tampa-based Avesta Homes LLC purchased the highly distressed 176-unit Woodlawn Park for $2.77 million.

The price equated to $15,727 per unit and $20.29 per square foot.

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

“This transaction was a complex bankruptcy auction,” Kattan says in a press release. “The property was over-leveraged, undercapitalized, and was literally out of money to support its operations. The buyer plans a major renovation and had to front money to keep on the utilities before they closed.”

The more than 60-year-old apartment complex had an occupancy of 50% to 65% at the time of the sale and a true economic occupancy (paying tenants) of 25% to 30%, according to Kelleher. The property had a number of physical needs, not the least of which were new roofs, plumbing and windows.

“I think the new owners will be lucky to get away with investing $10,000 a unit,” Kelleher says. “And that would be running a very tight ship. This is very much a capital starved property.”

However, the sale price for the distressed complex was increased significantly by the desirability of the 15-acre property and its location in densely populated Pinellas County.

Avesta Homes has become a well-known name for buying Tampa Bay area multifamily properties recently. It purchased the 119-unit Sunrise Villas multifamily community in Sarasota for $2.1 million and a 43-unit portfolio of three apartment properties in New Port Richey for $1.18 million. It also owns the 120-unit Southern Oaks apartments in Tampa, 193-unit Treesdale Condominiums in Bradenton and 187-unit Fredericksburg Apartments in Tampa.