Cushman & Wakefield announced that the commercial real estate services firm has arranged the $80.2 million sale of Genesis Apartments, a 372-unit multifamily community located at 503 and 530 Fairwood Ave. in Clearwater, Florida.
Mike Donaldson and Nick Meoli of Cushman & Wakefield represented both the seller and buyer in the transaction. The property was sold by Dominium and acquired by a local investment company.
“Genesis is a unique property in a strong in-fill location in Clearwater that was significantly renovated by the seller to the tune of over $31,000 per unit. We typically don’t see that level of capital expenditures infused into a property but in this case, it transformed the community into a highly desirable class ‘B+’ asset, effectively allowing it to compete with newer vintage communities in the area,” said Donaldson, Executive Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield.
“The property was well received by the market as evidenced by the 20 offers that we received on it and the multiple rounds of offers that we went through effectively obtaining a price per unit that set a highwater mark in the market for this vintage product.”
Genesis Apartments was built in the 1970s and was 95 percent leased at the time of sale. The multifamily community features large one-to-three-bedroom floorplans averaging 930 square feet and proximity to major retail establishments and transportation throughfares like U.S. Highway 19 and State Road 60. Amenities on-site include a fitness center, resident café, dog park, swimming pool with new furniture and a newly renovated clubhouse.
While the multifamily community recently had significant interior and exterior renovations, value-add opportunity is available to make further in-unit upgrades and add new amenities to an already attractive amenity package.
“When we started to market Genesis, the rental market was really starting to fire up. In fact, we saw lease trade-outs at the property as high as $600 in some instances,” added Meoli, Executive Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield. “We have continued to see this heightened growth throughout the Tampa Bay area with most submarkets experiencing over 20% annual rent increases and achieving top rankings in the nation as a result.”
