An Austrian private equity group has purchased 64 condo units in bulk at the Las Olas By The River condominium conversion in Downtown Fort Lauderdale for $110 per square foot, representing a 66 percent discount off of the project's average sales price, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The buyer - Biscayne Atlantic Las Olas LLC with Mercelo Borodowski, Stephan Gietl, and Fernando Levy Hara - paid $8.7 million for the remaining 36 two-bedroom units, 26 three-bedroom units, and two commercial condo units in the project standing on the south bank of the New River, according to the report based on the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database™.

Prior to the bulk deal, the developer had sold 176 units in the 2005 project for an average of $320 per square foot to individual buyers between December 2005 and December 2009. In 2010, the developer sold only two units before the bulk deal was completed on July 12, according to Broward County records.

"This European group has acquired one of the few remaining bulk buys in Fort Lauderdale's Downtown and Beach area at a sizeable discount, " said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "Unlike Greater Downtown Miami where some 6,600 new units were still unsold at the end of March, Fort Lauderdale's Downtown and Beach areas have less than 400 new condos that are unsold. Given the limited amount of product, we would expect the new owner's strategy to be selling units in a controlled manner while maintaining a steady rental program." 

There are currently about 125 condo units available for rent in the Fort Lauderdale Downtown and Beach areas with a median monthly asking price of $1,850, or $1.48 per square foot, according to Florida Association of Realtors data.

In the last six months, tenants have rented 278 condos, or 46 units per month, at a median monthly price of $1,675, or $1.39 per square foot, according to the data. 

Nearly 5,100 new condominium units were added in Fort Lauderdale's Downtown and Beach neighborhoods during the last real estate boom, increasing the existing inventory by 66 percent in less than a decade, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report.

Since 2003, developers constructed and converted 47 projects of 15 units or more in a stretch of central Fort Lauderdale from Sunrise Boulevard south to State Road 84/Southeast 24th Street, Northwest 7th/Southwest 4th Avenue east to the Atlantic Ocean, according to research compiled for the soon-to-be-released Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Fort Lauderdale™.

The surge in new condo construction increased Fort Lauderdale's total inventory in the Downtown and Beach neighborhoods to nearly 12,800 units located within 180 projects that feature a combined 1,500 floors of residential living, according to the study.

With the Las Olas By The River bulk deal, buyers have completed 53 transactions for nearly 5,000 units with more than 6.2 million square feet for about $1.5 billion, or $240 per square foot, in the last two years. International buyers have accounted for 23 transactions - 43 percent of the deals - with more than 1,900 units and more than 2.1 million square feet of space, 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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