"This was one of the most difficult deals we've transacted on during our tenure at Marcus & Millichap," Hague says. "Despite some major hurdles along the way, Ned, Adam, and myself were able to work as a team to get this deal to the finish line. We ended up finding the perfect buyer who shared our vision for the future potential of this asset, and we're excited to see that vision executed on over the next few years."

Hague said that due to the price point that the seller was targeting, the ability to get traditional financing was nearly impossible because of the lack of Day 1 cash flow. This meant Marcus & Millichap could only deal with a buyer who had the ability to purchase the deal all cash, or find a buyer willing to get creative with the debt piece. They had to find a buyer that understood the future potential of this well located asset and that was also comfortable with the very slim return margins they would be seeing for the first year prior to the completed renovations and rent increases.

All units at the property feature water and pool views. Sand Cove Apartments has frontage to Gulf Boulevard which sees 23,000 vehicles per day.

"Our ability to showcase the demonstrable upside offered by Sand Cove was ultimately what allowed us to compress the takeover capitalization rate to sub-3.5%," says Podbelski. "The tremendous opportunity provided by both the asset's size and location are what attracted a very-well experienced owner/developer to close on an all-cash basis at contract price with non-refundable money day-one."