National Real Estate Solution buys Franklin Arms buildings

BUYER: NRES Franklin Arms Building LLC (principal: Steven Puthuff), Saratoga, Calif.

SELLER: FCB Franklin Arms LLC

PROPERTY: 2310-2320 First Street, Fort Myers

PRICE: $3.25 million

PREVIOUS PRICE: $3.93 million, October 2004

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Holland & Knight LLP, Miami

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: California's National Real Estate Solution LLC purchased the two-building Franklin Arms property and a small vacant parcel for $3.25 million.

The price equated to $97 per square foot.

The property features a three-story, 13,201-square-foot office building and an attached seven-story, 22-unit apartment building. The historic buildings were built in 1915 and more recently renovated in 2000 and 2002.

All but one of the apartment units was leased, according to Dan Lyons, vice president of sales and marketing for National Real Estate Solution, and most of the commercial space is rented. The main commercial tenants are the law firms of Phelan Hallinan PLC and Roetzel & Andress.

“Part of our decision was the proposed new convention center,” Lyons says. “With the pier and all the work the city is doing in that area, we really feel like that is an area on its way up. What [the city] has in mind for the next five years is phenomenal.”

The property was purchased from an affiliate of Florida Community Bank NA, which foreclosed on the buildings in June.

The new owner has hired David Malt of Malt Realty & Development to market the vacant commercial space. National Real Estate Solution also plans to improve the exterior of the buildings and gradually upgrade both the residential and commercial units.

The purchase entity NRES Franklin Arms Building LLC mortgaged the property to BRT RLOC LLC for two loans totaling $2.65 million.

National Real Estate Solution already owns Fort Myers real estate at 5648-5650 Sixth Ave., 5502-5504 10th Ave., 5423-5425 Ninth Ave., 1729-1731 Maple Drive, 5635-5637 10th Ave., 5530-5532 Fifth Ave. and 5631-5633 10th Ave.