A Caribbean private equity group purchased the remaining 43 units in a struggling condo project for $70 per square foot, representing a 62 percent discount off of the average sales price to date, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The buyer, U.S. Virgin Islands-based Solabella Holdings Company Ltd with principals Gertrude Prior and Cornelius B. Prior Jr. of St. Thomas, and Steven M. Ross of West Virginia, purchased 36 percent of the 118-unit Solabella condominium complex in the Miami Gardens area for nearly $3.8 million, according to Miami-Dade County and Florida Secretary of State records.

Prior to the June 25 sale, the developer had sold 75 units in the 2007 project for $16.9 million, or an average of $184 per square foot, according to the report based on Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database™.

"As Greater Miami's class A condo product is sold off, bulk buyers are increasingly being forced to look outside of the central business district for possible acquisitions," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "The condo bulk market has been moving toward class B and class C product for about nine months now, and is expected to only intensify in the months ahead. This is forcing many private equity groups and institutional funds to recalibrate their criteria to remain competitive." 

Prior to this transaction, bulk buyers had acquired the deeds or notes secured by real estate for 50 projects totaling 4,800 units and 6.1 million square feet of saleable space in South Florida for a combined $1.5 billion. This total purchase price works out to about $308,500 per unit and $244 per square foot, according to a recent  Condo Vultures® White Paper™.

In Miami-Dade, bulk buyers have acquired nearly 3,800 units with more than 4.5 million square feet of saleable space for $1.1 billion, or $252 per square foot, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report.

In this latest deal, the bulk buyer acquired 28 units with two bedrooms and an average of 1,150 square feet and 15 units with three bedrooms and an average of 1,430 square feet, according to the report based on Miami-Dade County records.

Opened in June 2007, the Solabella condominium is destined to be a 26-building project located at 17359 NW 7th Ave. in Northwest Miami-Dade County. The 12.5-acre project has entitlements for an additional 92 units to be constructed on the site in the future, according to the Miami-Dade County records. 

The seller, LMIW V LLC, is a Florida corporation created by the lender, Regions Bank, which took back the property in March 2010, in a foreclosure proceeding that culminated with a Feb. 27 auction, according to the Condo Vultures® Foreclosure Database™.

The original developer, Coral Gables-based Legacy Pointe Inc. with Jorge Lopez, Stuart I Meyers, Mara S. Mades, and Leon J. Wolfe, obtained the financing to build the project in February 2006 and completed its first sale in July 2007, according to Miami-Dade County and Florida Secretary of State records.

By October 2008, the Solabella condominium sales had come to a halt with the developer selling only two more units in all of 2009 and 2010. 

As the sales were slowing, the lender filed to foreclose In November 2008, seeking to repossess the remaining 75 units and the entitled land for what is proposed to ultimately be a 210-unit complex. 

The lender was eventually awarded a $15.3 million judgment comprised of $13 million in principal and an additional $2.3 million in interest, attorneys' fees, and court costs, according to order signed by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mark King Leban. 

Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures® can be reached at 800-750-0517 or by email at peter@condovultures.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Don't forget to sign up for our weekly Market Intelligence Report™ for detailed condo reports. Looking for a property at a deep discount? You are encouraged to take a peek at the Vultures Database™ or view our Video Gallery. Looking for bulk projects direct from developers or lenders? Visit the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database™. Our new books, the Official Condo Buyers Guide to Miami™ , Official Condo Buyers Guide To South Beach™, Official Condo Buyers Guide to Sunny Isles Beach™, Miami's Great Condo Crash: A Chronicle of the Boom and Bust™ , and the First-Time Home Buyers Guide To South Florida™ are now available. Want to see every foreclosure filed in South Florida since 2007? Check out our Foreclosure Database™.

Copyright © 2010, Condo Vultures® LLC