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TAMPA, FL-Miami Beach-based Abba Real Estate Development Group has acquired the 352-unit, 90%-leased Arbors at Fletcher Island in the affluent Temple Terrace submarket for $47.52 million. The deal with Ohio-based Arbors at Fletcher Island II LLC equals $135,000 per unit and $132.74 per sf.

The transaction follows a trend of South Florida investor-developers gobbling up Central Florida apartment communities for condo conversions, area multifamily brokers tell GlobeSt.com. The class A Fletcher Avenue property is adjacent to the Hidden River and Tampa Telecom office parks. Average asking monthly base rents are $695 for a one-bedroom, one-bath unit to $1,300 for a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment.

Apartment Realty Advisors brokers Sean Williams and Richard Donnellan negotiated for the seller. The buyer was represented in-house. "In 2005, a record 88 apartment communities were sold in the Tampa Bay MSA, more than tripling the volume for 2004," Donnellan says. "Average unit prices rose 33% to $88,740. Apartment occupancies increased to 97.1%, demonstrating the underlying strength of this emerging market."