444-unit Audubon Village sells for $41.96 million

BUYER: Memorial HWY FL Partners LLC (Cortland Partners LLC), Atlanta
SELLER: CRP/Pollack Audubon Village LLC
PROPERTY: 5830 Memorial Highway, Tampa
PRICE: $41.96 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $32.5 million, September 2011
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Shutts & Bowen LLP, Orlando

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: Cortland Partners has acquired its second multifamily property in the Tampa Bay area. The Atlanta-based real estate investment and management firm purchased the 444-unit Audubon Village apartments in Westshore for $41.96 million.

The price equated to $94,496 per unit.

Built in 1989, the 29.12-acre property features a tennis court, dog park, two racquetball courts, two swimming pools and laundry facilities. The development has a rough occupancy of 92%.

“This is a very strong operating property,” says Mike Altman, chief investment officer for Cortland Partners. “We will continue to do value-add renovations. We'll be upgrading an already great location.”

The company will upgrade the interior of the units as they turn or during the renewal period. Altman estimates the interior renovations will take 18 months to complete.

The sale comes shortly after Cortland Partners purchased the 448-unit Preserve at Deer Park apartment complex in Lutz for $26.8 million ($59,821 per unit). The company said of that project that it planned to invest more than $17,000 per unit in renovations to the property.

“We continue to like the fundamentals in Tampa,” Altman says. “We continue to see a lot of positive things happening there.”

The purchase entity, Memorial HWY FL Partners LLC, mortgaged the property to Parlex 1 Finance LLC for $10.86 million.