COCONUT CREEK, FL-Prestige Builders Partners, in which one principal is a partner of Miami-based BF Group, and one of South Florida's most prolific condo converters, pays just more than $300.3 million, or approximately $198,448 a unit, for a six-property multifamily portfolio aggregating 1,513 units in three locations. The seller is locally based Minto Builders.

The portfolio contains the 168-unit CrownPointe at the Township, 372-unit ForestPointe at the Township and 192-unit StarPointe at the Township here, along with the 288-unit Spring Harbor and 200-unit Spring Landing in Delray Beach, and 293-unit Tuscany Place in Plantation. The properties were completed between 1986 and 1990, according to Avery Klann, VP in the Boca Raton office of Denver-based Apartment Realty Advisors. Klann and Marc deBaptiste, an ARA principal in that office, represented Minto and also procured the buyer.

"The portfolio was on the market for about a month," Klann tells GlobeSt.com, "and we received about 150 offers or about 25 offers per property. Bids came from Florida condo converters, from California and elsewhere with a few from overseas." He says ARA marketed the assets in three combinations--two in Delray Beach, three here and one in Plantation--plus the full portfolio, "in a highly competitive bidding process. The three locations are among the most dynamic for-sale housing markets, and properties have been meticulously maintained."

Occupancy throughout the portfolio "is very close to 100%," he says. The majority of the units are two- and three-bedroom layouts. Calls to Prestige, whose principals are Jose Boschetti, Martin Caparros and Arthur Falcone, were not returned by deadline; however, a spokesman for Prestige and BF confirmed the closing of this transaction. Frank Mestre, VP of sales and marketing for Prestige, later told GlobeSt.com, "right now, we're putting all of the properties in our inventory and holding them as rental. The acquisition doesn't mean will convert any to condos." He confirmed that Prestige has acquired approximately 12,000 units this year and has converted "5,500, nearly 5,600 to condos. We have an inventory and I can't say how many are slated for conversion at this time."

This is ARA's largest multifamily sale this year, according to Klann, and Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research & Consulting in Deerfield Beach, confirms, saying, "here we go again, calling a transaction the largest and most expensive to date." Yet, this is "by no means the highest price per unit," McCabe tells GlobeSt.com. "While these are well-built, well-maintained assets in great locations, they are all 15 to 19 years old and not of the newer luxury designs, which puts them in the B, B+ class," he says. "Many class A properties have been cherry-picked. I believe we're reaching the summit for [class B] price-per-unit sales, and I expect the prices to level off and slow down." According to his firm's research, he says BF has acquired more than 12,000 units in less than a year.