Paradise Communities buys Shady Haven Mobile Home Park

BUYER: CAE-FL101 LLC, Scottsdale, Ariz.
SELLER: Klaus Allseits, individually and as trustee of the Revocable Trust agreement for the benefit of Klaus J. Allseits, et al., and Mary Allseits, individually and as trustee for the Revocable Trust agreement for the benefit of Mary M. Allseits, et al.
PROPERTY: 150 Old Englewood Road, Englewood
PRICE: $4.1 million
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Williams Parker Harrison Dietz & Getzen, Sarasota

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Paradise Communities purchased the 105-lot Shady Haven Mobile Home Park for $4.1 million.

The price equated to $39,048 per lot.

The 8.5-acre senior manufactured home park is the first purchase for the buyer, a company created by Charles Ellis, the former vice president of acquisitions for Carefree RV Resorts and National Home Communities. Carefree RV Resorts owns more than 21,000 RV and mobile home sites in 79 communities across North America.

The park features a clubhouse, four shuffleboard courts and 25 boat slips on Lemon Bay.

“It's in a great location in Englewood,” Ellis says. “Senior manufactured home communities like this don't come around very often. We plan to clear up the property, put in new vinyl fencing and upgrade the boat slips. There are 30 park-owned homes that are currently vacant. We plan to remodel them and make them available for sale in January.”

Ellis says during the height of the real estate market, a developer had agreed to purchase the park to demolish it. In anticipation of the sale, much of the property was vacated. But when the real estate market crashed, the sale fell through. The community was roughly 50% occupied at the time it was sold.

“I think we are going to do very well filling them up,” he says. “I'm cautiously optimistic that the market is there. I believe that there is great value in living in Shady Haven.”

The purchase entity, CAE-FL101 LLC, mortgaged the property to General Electric Capital Corp. for $3.45 million.