Blue Rock Wins Financing For Kissimmee Multifamily Deal

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Kissimmee, Fla.—Apartment owner Blue Rock Partners LLC has closed on a $6.55 million acquisition and bridge loan for the Woodside Apartments in Kissimmee. The deal was financed through a regional bank with a five-year, non-recourse loan, with investment and merchant banking firm Aztec Group Inc. representing the borrower in the deal.

The seller of the property was Freddie Mac; CBRE’s Investment Properties Group, Orlando, brokered the sale, which was inked in May. The 208-unit apartment complex stretches over 15.4 acres and is comprised of 27 buildings constructed in 1974. The new owner is changing the property’s name to the Park at Sorrento.

The property will undergo a $2.5 million renovation over the next year that will include work on its common areas and all its units. The goal, according to Blue Rock, is to re-position and re-brand the property to be more like the rest of the company’s portfolio.

Blue Rock, which owns about 4,800 units in 17 properties in the Orlando and Tampa Bay markets, will oversee the renovation of the Park at Sorrento and manage its day-to-day operations. The company has been in an aggressive acquisition mode—this deal is only the most recent—since 2009, when Konover South, an affiliate of the Simon Konover Co., acquired a stake in Blue Rock.

Prospects are good for multifamily properties in greater Orlando. According to investment specialist Marcus & Millichap, the area’s apartment vacancy rate will edge down to 6.1 percent by the end of this year, the lowest rate in six years, and effective rents will post a 3.6 percent increase. The Orlando area is expected to add roughly 26,000 jobs in 2012, compared with 13,100 in 2011.