Sawgrass Cove apartments in Bradenton sell for $39.25 Million

BRADENTON -- A Chicago company has paid $39.25 million for a set of 336 apartments that have only been off the market for four years.

The Inland Real Estate Group's purchase of the Sawgrass Cove Apartments on Jan. 28 is the fourth major multifamily transaction in the Bradenton area since mid December.

Like several of those previous sales, the Sawgrass deal gave a short-term owner a quick gain on its investment. The seller in the transaction, Sawgrass Cove Apartments LLC of North Miami, bought the 24-year-old complex in 2011 for $23 million.

Situated on about 28 acres at 4945 49th Avenue W., the complex is grouped in with several other apartment properties south of Cortez Road W. One neighboring property, the Palm Cove Apartments, sold for $31.6 million in early January. In that case, the buyer purchased 298 out of a total of 348 units in the complex, which was converted to condominiums several years ago.

Other major recent apartment transactions include the $43 million sale of the 340-unit Vista at Palma Sola Apartments on Dec. 21 and a $70 million deal that put the former TGM Yacht Club Apartments under the ownership of Northland Investment Corporation.

The big apartment sell off streak comes as the multi-family sector in Florida and nationwide has yielded re

cord rents and high margins on sales, even for short-term owners. Tim Becker, the diowners. Tim Becker, the drector of the Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Florida, said demand for rental housing has been very high since the Great Recession. The appreciation of rents has been on an upward curve for several years.

The average asking rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Sarasota County was about $1,170 at the end of September, according to commercial real estate information company CoStar. In Manatee County, the figure was $1,060.

Those rents are generating huge income and huge value in multi-family properties. The average selling price of an apartment unit in Manatee County is estimated to be $58,193 as of the third quarter of 2015, according to CoStar.

Selling prices per unit have generally charted much higher for large, newer complexes. Inland paid just over $116,000 for the units at Sawgrass.

Mark Cosenza, the senior vice president of Inland Real Estate, said Sawgrass Cove may well remain a long-term asset with the company.

Along those lines, it has plans to do some renovating at the complex. The scope of work will include upgraded kitchen and bath finishes, as well as new appliances, fixtures and flooring in each unit.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Sawgrass Cove apartments in Bradenton sell for $39.25 Million ."