FORT MEYERS, FL-In a rare Section 42 sale, Pacifica Cos. snapped up Edisto Lake Apartments. The distressed asset fetched $7 million, or $18,617 a unit. Jonathan Richards and Thomas Fischer of CBRE brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller.

Built in 1996 under the Section 42 tax credit program, Edisto Lake Apartments offers 376 units. Eighty percent of the units are mandated for households with income equal to or less than 60% of area median income. The remaining 20% of the units are reserved for households whose income is equal to or less than 40% of the area median.

“Typically, if these Section 42 properties aren’t managed well or if there is a lot of deferred maintenance they go into what I call the death spiral and they start losing tenants,” Richards tells GlobeSt.com. “That’s what happened here. Occupancy is only about 83%.”