Sale of Bradenton Luxury Rental Community Completed
Lost Creek Resort at Lakewood Ranch, a newly built luxury apartment community in the coastal Florida city Bradenton, has been sold.
By Jeffrey Steele, Contributing Writer
Bradenton, Fla.—Lost Creek Resort at Lakewood Ranch, a newly built luxury apartment community in the coastal Florida city of Bradenton, has been sold. Announcement of the sale was made by the HFF Florida multi-housing group, which represented the seller, P.A.C. Land Development. The 272-unit, Class A community was sold to an affiliate of the Inland Real Estate Group of Companies Inc.
Lost Creek Resort, which offers resort-style amenities and occupies 24 acres in the Lakewood Ranch master planned community, was designed to attract young professionals and families. It features a nicely furnished clubhouse with computer lab and entertaining areas, large swimming pool and spa, poolside cabanas, tot lot, dog park and on-site car-wash.
In addition, a generously sized fitness club features weights and cardio areas, and a full-court basketball court, volleyball and tennis courts also beckon to residents.
The apartment community offers prospective residents one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment homes that average approximately 1,100 square feet.
“The property is located in Lakewood Ranch, one of the most successful master-planned communities in the country,” HFF Florida multi-housing group director Matt Mitchell tells MHN. “The submarket seems to have emerged from the recession faster and stronger than most other areas on the west coast of Florida. [That’s] thanks to the fact there are about as many jobs in Lakewood Ranch as there are people, and the demand for apartment rentals has pushed occupancy rates above 95 percent for Class-A product.”
Mitchell, along with analyst Scott Wadler, led the transaction for HFF Florida multi-housing group.
The property remained under construction when the deal was negotiated, so HFF Florida structured the transaction as a “forward,” whereby the sale would not close until the property achieved a specified occupancy level, Mitchell says.
“With no operating history, an unproven location and uncertainty over what the demand would be, we had to help the buyer underwrite an achievable pro forma and understand the local market drivers,” he adds.
Lost Creek Resort at Lakewood Ranch is the first market-rate rental community to come to the Sarasota-Bradenton submarket in half a decade, Mitchell notes.
Much of the rental inventory in that submarket was converted to condominiums years ago, and there were no new apartment communities constructed during the recession. That means the area’s inventory of communities offering high-end finishes and resort-like amenities has been severely constrained.
“Lost Creek will help satisfy a large amount of pent-up demand, particularly in Lakewood Ranch where there is only one other rental apartment community,” Mitchell adds.
