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No you’re not seeing things, I said “Deconversion”, which is just my non fancy word for a condo conversion that is being back converted into apartments. The first major deconversion has taken place in St. Petersburg Florida showing signs that the market is trying to stabilize itself as the high demand for all levels of apartment housing is remaining strong.

The Laramar Group has acquired a 272-unit apartment property in Pinellas County, Fla. for an undisclosed price. The Snell Isle property was previously a condominium conversion project. But it will now be renovated into high-end waterfront apartment units. Laramar, a private apartment investment firm, acquired the property through a bank foreclosure.

€œLaramar plans extensive renovations and the addition of resort-like amenities to the Snell Isle Luxury Apartments, which will greatly enhance this property and maximize its outstanding setting and waterfront location,€ says Ron Roan, vice president of acquisitions for Laramar€™s regional office in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. €œThe Snell Isle Luxury Apartments offer a high quality living environment in a beautiful and well located area.€

Chicago-based Laramar has been an active buyer in Pinellas County. In late August, for example, Laramar bought a 228-unit apartment property in Clearwater. This was also a failed condominium conversion project that will instead be redeveloped into Class-A rental units.

Laramar expects to spend roughly $11 million on a complete renovation of the Clearwater property, which is located near St. Petersburg. The property has an excellent setting with approximately 1,500 linear feet of water frontage, and a new seawall on Smacks Bayou that leads into Tampa Bay.

Though there are several other condo conversion in Tampa Bay still attempting to sell their units, this was the first major acquisition through foreclosure that the are has seen. Now is the time to get into the multifamily market as demand remains high and the cost of owning a home forces thousands to seek rental housing. Contact us at J.A. Barnett Realty Group today to find a property that works for your budget and investment expectations.

Peter J. Barnett, CCIM

With contributions from NREI Newsline.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 10:08 am and is filed under Florida, The Market. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.