A Miami Beach company headed by Jorge Mattos has purchased 21 units in the Marina Blue condominium tower in Downtown Miami for $5.69 million in an all-cash deal involving the project's former mezzanine lender, according to a new report from Condo Vultures® LLC.

A newly formed Florida corporation called 21 Marina Blue LLC with Mattos as the manager purchased 13 two bedroom units, seven one-bedroom units, and a three-bedroom penthouse for a blended price of $196 per square foot on a deal that was recorded on June 23, according to Condo Vultures® research.

Mattos is a business partner of Carlos Mattos who purchased 31 units for $6.1 million in mid-June at the 1060 Brickell condominium tower in Miami's Brickell Avenue financial district, according to a recent Condo Vultures® report.

Carlos Mattos' 1060 Brickell Apartments LLC paid $203 per square foot for four studio units, 22 one-bedroom units, and five two-bedroom units with a combined 29,913 square feet of livable space, according to Condo Vultures®.

"This is the second bulk deal to close in the Greater Downtown Miami area in the last month," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures. "Once again, the buyer is a private equity group with roots and investments in South Florida. "

The seller was Lendco Florida LLC with Harvey L. Armstrong which provided a $30.5 million mezzanine loan to the Marina Blue developer in February 2008. A year later in March 2009, Lendco Florida's mortgage was satisfied after the California-based lender acquired 54 units with 70,300 square feet in Marina Blue for $15 million, or $213 per square foot, according to Condo Vultures® research using Miami-Dade County records.  

Lendco Florida has sold two other units besides the 21-unit bulk sale, according to Miami-Dade County records.   

Between 1961 and 2002, some 11,500 units were constructed in Greater Downtown Miami. Since 2003, nearly 23,000 units have been built or are still construction with the last units scheduled to be completed in early 2010, according to the Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide to Miami™.

At the end of the second quarter, developers were still in possession of about 9,400 of the 23,000 new units constructed in Greater Downtown Miami. Developers constructed 83 new projects in a 60-block stretch of Greater Downtown Miami, which is defined as an area stretching from the Rickenbacker Causeway north to the Julia Tuttle Causeway, Interstate-95 east to Biscayne Bay.

This is fourth bulk deal to close in Greater Downtown Miami since July 2008 when an opportunity fund established by Miami developer Jorge Perez’s Related Group and Philadelphia private equity group Lubert-Adler Partners LP purchased 146 units in 50 Biscayne condominium tower in July for $246 per square foot, or $36.4 million.

In December 2008, a Singer Island, Fla.-based entity paid $200 per square foot for 60 units in the Marina Blue condominium tower located across the street from the American Airlines Arena.

The 1060 Brickell condominium bulk purchase by Carlos Mattos was the third large deal to close in Greater Downtown Miami, where more than 34,000 units now stand. 

Another three other condo bulk deals have closed throughout coastal South Florida.

In January, a South Florida private equity fund called HH Condominium Investments LLC, with Thomas F. Daly as president paid $277 per square foot for 101 units in the Related Group’s Harbour House oceanfront condominium conversion in wealthy enclave of Bal Harbour, Fla. The total purchase price was $27 million for an average of $268,000 per unit in the 16-story, Y-shaped tower.

A Pennsylvania businessman paid $165 per square foot, or $5 million, for 26 units in the new Edge condominium in West Palm Beach.

The highest closing price in the tower was $475 per square foot in 2007, meaning the buyer, Ed Dunlap, chairman of the Canonsburg, Pa.-based roofing company CentiMark, purchased the units at a 65 percent discount off the market peak.

In February, a European bulk buyer purchased 141 units in the troubled Whitney condominium for $24 million, or $144 per square foot, for the remaining inventory in a project that had an existing loan amount of $43.9 million, or $264 per square foot.

ABG Sundall Collier, a publicly traded Scandanavian investment firm based in Oslo, Norway, was the buyer.

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. Our new books, the Official Condo Buyers Guide to Miami™ , 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™. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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