Montreal real estate investor pays $26 million for two apartments

BUYER: Royal Breeze Apartments Inc.(officers: Radwan Nassri and Vincent Chiara), Montreal, Quebec
SELLER: Royal Breeze Apts. Inc.
PROPERTY: 21227 U.S. Highway 19 N., Clearwater
PRICE: $17.2 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $13.85 million, November 2007

BUYER: Lenox Apartments Inc. (officers: Radwan Nassri and Vincent Chiara), Montreal, Quebec
SELLER: Lenox Place Apartments Inc.
PROPERTY: 11311 N. 22nd St., Tampa
PRICE: $8.8 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $5 million, June 2008
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Buchanan Ingersoll Rooney PC, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Groupe Mach Inc. purchased the 200-unit Royal Breeze Apartments in Clearwater and the 168-unit Lenox Place Apartments in Tampa. The Montreal-based firm, owned by Vincent Chiara, bought the Royal Breeze Apartments for $17.2 million and paid $8.8 million for the Lenox Place Apartments.

The combined price ($26 million) equates to $70,652 per unit. That figure is in line with the two-year average price per unit for multifamily space ($72,609) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Built in 1973, Royal Breeze Apartments is located on a 12.6-acre parcel just north of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard. The 204,140-square-foot property consists of 25 two-story residential buildings. Units range from two-bedroom/two-bathroom units to three-bedroom/two-bathroom apartments and average more than 1,000 square feet of living space.

The 120,600-square-foot Lenox Place Apartments has two three-story, concrete-block residential buildings on 5.2 acres south of Fowler Avenue. It was built in 1970. It was renovated in 2005.

Casey Babb, Luis Baez and Moe Derbala of Marcus & Millichap's National Retail Group in Marcus & Millichap's Tampa office represented the seller, Tampa-based Hachem Investments.

Groupe Mach had not returned calls requesting comment as of deadline.

According to its website, the firm owns office buildings with more than 4.5 million square feet of space in Montreal and across Quebec, 1.5 million square feet of industrial space and about 115 acres of land. It has also acquired nearly 2,000 housing units in and around Montreal.