Harbor Group Buys Three Florida Apartment Properties

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Orlando, Fla.—Harbor Group International LLC (HGI) has acquired the 272-unit West Winds apartment property and the 210-unit Verandahs at Hunt Club in Orlando, as well as the 146-unit Forestlake Apartments in Daytona Beach. HGI didn’t specify a purchase price for any of the properties, but said it plans to invest nearly $2.2 million in capital improvements at the communities.

West Winds, originally built in 1985, consists of 19 garden-style buildings on 20 acres. The property features five floor plans ranging from 509 square feet to 986 square feet, with either one- or two-bedroom units. The property is two blocks away from Universal Studios in Orlando.

Verandahs at Hunt Club, which was also built in 1985, is made up of 21 buildings on 21 acres. It features one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans with an average size of 1,185 square feet. The units also include a patio, den, living room, dining room, bathroom and full kitchens. Forestlake is vintage 1982 and consists of 146 units featuring one- and two-bedroom floor plans.

Counting the new acquisitions, HGI now owns 12 multifamily properties in Florida markets. In the past three years, HGI has closed four multifamily portfolio transactions comprised of 22 properties totaling about 7,500 units.

Orlando has been a hot multifamily market in recent years. Developers are adding apartments to the market, but not quite fast enough to meet demand. Rental inventory will expand 2 percent in 2013 with the completion of about 3,000 new units, according to investment specialist Marcus & Millichap. In 2012, 1,224 new apartments came on line.

The company also predicts that the vacancy rate for greater Orlando apartments will drop 20 basis points to 5.2 percent by the end of this year, following an 80-basis point drop in 2012 and a plunge of 170 basis points in 2011.