A month after paying $429 per square foot in bulk for 25 units in a luxury oceanfront Miami Beach condominium project, the new owner is attempting to resell the units on an individual basis at a 61 percent premium, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The private equity buying group, FFOC Investors LLC with principal Daniel Lebensohn, purchased the developer units in the 19-story Fontainebleau III Ocean Club condo-hotel for $7.1 million, a 32 percent discount off of the current assessed value of $10.4 million, according to the report based on Miami-Dade County records.

The bulk buyer has immediately put 21 units out of the original 25 condos on the market at an average asking price of $691 per square foot, according to Condo Vultures® Realty LLC. 

At the current asking price, the sale of the 21 available units would generate $9.7 million, or $2.6 million more than the original amount paid in the entire bulk acquisition.

"As generous as the potential return sounds, the current average asking price in the project dubbed the Sorrento Tower is more than $800 per square foot," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "Given the project's quality, location, and age, this bulk buyer appears headed for some level of success in a classic example of condo arbitrage Miami style." 

There are currently 45 units actively available for resale - only five of the units are Lebensohn's condos - in the Fontainebleau III Ocean Club at a median price of $714 per square foot. The highest asking price is $2,324 per square foot while the lowest price is $457 per square foot, according to Florida Association of Realtors data.

This is not the first bulk deal to occur in the Fontainebleau III Ocean Club. In August 2009, a New York-based corporation paid $2.9 million, or $405 per square foot, for 10 units in the Fontainebleau III Ocean Club and immediately resold five of the newly acquired units at an average price of $657 per square foot, according to a previous CondoVultures.com Market Intelligence Report™.

In the first bulk deal, Jeffrey Soffer, executive chairman of the development entity that built the three-building Fontainebleau Miami Beach complex, signed the deed on the transaction that was recorded Aug. 12, 2009, in Miami-Dade County, according to government records.

In this latest bulk deal that closed June 1, 2010, the seller was Fontainebleau Florida Tower 3 LLC with Emanuel Pearlman as the "authorized person" signing the deed, according to the government records. 

Overall, bulk buyers have completed 52 transactions in South Florida since July 2008 for a total of more than 4,800 units and 6.1 million square feet for a total purchase price of more than $1.5 billion, according to the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database™.

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™.

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