St. Petersburg Housing Authority buys Sunset Oaks Apartments

BUYER: St. Petersburg Housing Authority, St. Petersburg

SELLER: 4888 Recovery LLC

PROPERTY: 4888 21st Ave. N., St. Petersburg

PRICE: $1.5 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $2.7 million, March 2006

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Squire Sanders & Dempsey (US) LLP

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The St. Petersburg Housing Authority purchased the 38-unit Sunset Oaks Apartments for $1.5 million.

The price equated to $39,474 per unit.

Sunset Oaks Apartments features 26 one-bedroom units at 632 square feet each and 12 two-bedroom units from 936 to 1152 square feet.

The Housing Authority is converting the complex into public housing for eligible low-income seniors.

“It's in a traditional neighborhood with a low concentration of poverty,” says Audra Butler, communications officer for the St. Petersburg Housing Authority. “H.U.D. has a requirement for us to reduce the concentration of poverty in our jurisdiction. So we've been trying to buy properties that are a little smaller with 20 to 30 units. There's also a lot of poverty in south St. Petersburg so we've been staying away from that area and moving into other areas.”

Butler says the apartment units were in really good condition and had just recently been renovated.

The Housing Authority is paying for the purchase through federal Public Housing Replacement Housing Factor dollars and a portion of the proceeds from the 2010 sale of the Graham Park Apartments.

Rents in the property will be set at around 30% of the resident's adjusted monthly income. Eligible residents must be 50 or older with incomes of less than 80% of the area median income.

With the addition of Sunset Oaks, SPHA now owns and/or administers 371 public housing units and 34 affordable housing units.