Park Place by the Bay Fetches $47M

MIAMI-Park Place by the Bay, the 30-story 463-unit apartment tower at 915 NW First Ave., gets a new owner as Oak Park, IL-based Regency Savings Bank plunks down $46.65 million to buy the building from Ocwen Federal Bank of Palm Beach. The property had languished in foreclosure for nearly an entire decade before being put up for bid at auction. Regency takes on Ocwen’s mortgage on the property in the deal.

Built 12 years ago for $34.5 million by John B. Cruz Development Corp., the 686,000-sf tower also offers 9,000-sf of ground-level retail space that goes for $12 to $15 per-sf. Currently, Park Place is 98 % occupied. The land on which the apartment sits was not part of the transaction as Park Place Associates–which owned the building at one time–snapped it up for $2.2 million from the Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency. That purchase was considered a steal of a deal for the seller, as the land had a maximum appraised value of only $880,000.