TAMPA-Water’s Edge Condominium, a 153-unit luxury development and the tallest building in downtown Clearwater, Florida, has been acquired by an affiliate of Concierge Asset Management of San Francisco. Of the 153 units, only 10 had been sold. The condominium was built by Opus South, which declared bankruptcy in 2009 and gave the tower, which at one time was worth about $100 million, back to Wachovia Bank in foreclosure. The developer had an $82 million mortgage with the bank.

Grant Wood, managing member of Stingray Asset Management, based in Clearwater, who is marketing the project, declined to reveal what Concierge Asset Management paid for Water’s Edge, but according to Pinellas County records, on July 1, 2010, the development was acquired by a Concierge Asset Management  affiliate.  In addition, Water’s Edge Real Estate Acquisition, LP, Water’s Edge Gulfport, FL, LLC and Water’s Edge Real Estate Associates, LP, took out a $14 million mortgage on the property from Ladder Capital Finance Portfolio, a Delaware-based company.

Concierge is planning to begin selling units at the 26-story Water’s Edge on July 30^th, says Wood.  Asking prices for the town houses at the development, which wrap around the pool which is on top of a five-level garage, will be $195,000. Asking prices for the tower units (most of the units are in the tower) will be from $250,000 to $700,000, and for the penthouse, the price will be $1,100,000.

Water’s Edge is on Clearwater Harbor, also known as the Intracoastal Waterway. It overlooks the Gulf of Mexico and is less than a mile from the beach. Sales for Water’s Edge originally started at the end of 2005, but most prospective owners never closed on contracts which averaged $750,000 according to an April 2010 story in the St. Petersburg Times.

Although there are only 10 owners at Water’s Edge today, there is an operating condominium association, which is maintained, says Wood. The previous owner covered a lot of the cost, he says, and the bank took care of the maintenance when it took possession of the property.

Wood says that Concierge will try to sell units  to owner-occupants as well as second home buyers. Most of Clearwater’s residential development consists of single family homes, he says, but condominiums are concentrated near the water.

Concierge is looking for other opportunities throughout the state and in markets around the country, says Wood, although the company is mostly focused on Florida at present.

Concierge is headed up by Maxwell Drever. An April  2003 Wall Street Journal article describes him as having “spent most of the last three decades fishing at the bottom of real estate market cycles.”