Avalon Park Apartments in Bradenton flipped for $1.3 million profit
BRADENTON -- Perhaps giving an indicator of how hot the local multifamily market is, a New York company that bought the Avalon Square Apartments in October has flipped it for a $1.3 million profit.
Axonic Capital sold the 154-unit property on Feb. 8 for $9.8 million to a Los Angeles buyer who is already well-invested in the Manatee County apartment market.
The 3506 14th St. E. complex has bounced from owner to owner for the past few years, selling out of foreclosure in 2011 for less than half the $8.5 million Axonic paid last year. The complex is composed of 16 two-story buildings in a rectangle on 9.8 acres.
The new owner, Avalon Square Bradenton LLC, is a company managed by Chaim Freeman. The Los Angeles resident also heads a company that made the second-biggest multifamily property purchase in Manatee County last year. It purchased the Vista at Palma Sola Apartments, a 340-unit, multibuilding complex on 75th Street West, for $43 million in December.
Freeman's companies fall under the umbrella of B.F. Management, a Los Angeles real estate investment group.
Freeman was not available Wednesday to comment on his company's latest purchase, according to B.F. Management staff.
B.F. Management does not seem to get anything more for the premium it paid than Axonic did when it purchased Avalon Square last year. According to county records, Axonic did little if any upgrades to the 40-year-old complex. The only construction permit it has applied for authorizes it to repair fire damage in one of the apartment units.
Still, the buy is a rela
tive deal for Freeman's group. Where Vista at Palma Sola sold for a price that works out to about $126,400 per unit, Avalon Square sold for about half that. The average selling price of an apartment unit in Manatee County was $58,193 as of the third quarter of 2015, according to commercial real estate information company CoStar.
At the time of Axonic's purchase, Jonathan Shechtman, the portfolio manager for the company's residential assets fund, said the length of Axonic's ownership depended on market conditions. He described the company's investment strategy as "opportunistic."
Avalon Square has had a patchy history in recent years when it comes to safety. Last year, a man was shot to death in one of the property's apartments. In 2011, there was a shooting in the complex with no injuries. The deal is among a recent spate of multifamily property sales. Other sales include one on Jan. 28 in which the Sawgrass Cove Apartments sold to a Chicago company and a $70 million transaction late last year put the former TGM Yacht Club Apartments in Heritage Harbour under new ownership.
Rental rates in Manatee and Sarasota counties are at record levels. The average asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Sarasota County was about $1,170 at the end of September, according to CoStar. In Manatee County, the figure was $1,060.
Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.
This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Avalon Park Apartments in Bradenton flipped for $1.3 million profit ."