(This story, in slightly different form, originally appeared in Incisive Media's Daily Business Review.)
WEST PALM BEACH, FL-Hialeah Park owner John Brunetti is making another foray into apartment complex ownership with the $26-million purchase of Azalea Village Apartments. Brunetti bought the 384-unit apartment complex this week from Englewood, CO-based Archstone Apartments for about $68,000 per unit.
Archstone, operating as Kathadin Properties, bought the complex, on nearly 48 acres at 4200 Community Drive, for $25.3 million in May 2001. Brunetti, operating as Azalea Village, obtained a $19.5-million loan from CBRE Capital Markets Inc. for the acquisition, according to Palm Beach County records.
Brunetti could not be reached for comment. His other apartment complexes include Century Towers in Sunny Isles Beach, Fairway View Apartments in Hialeah and Forest Place in North Miami.
Unlike most commercial real estate sectors, rental apartments are still appealing to lenders, particularly public institutions, says Rosendo Caveiro, senior director of apartment brokerage services for Cushman & Wakefield. Caveiro was not involved in the Azalea Village deal.
"You don't have to go to a bank to find financing for large rental properties," Caveiro says. "Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and HUD are providing financing. It is more accessible for an established multifamily property versus a shopping center or office building."
Brunetti made "a nice buy" in today's market, Caveiro says, adding that the deal sets a base line for future pricing in apartment deals. "This property is probably stabilized, so the price-per-unit is very reasonable."
The owner of historic Hialeah Park and its race track since 1978, Brunetti is in the midst of fighting a legal challenge to his ownership of the site by race-horse owner Halsey Minor. A Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge on Aug. 8 dismissed Minor's lawsuit, which claimed the citizens of Hialeah are the true owners of the park. Minor is appealing the ruling.
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