CityPlace South Tower bulk buyer is slowly earning big returns

Though sales at CityPlace South Tower in West Palm Beach have remained slow since a partnership led by Gulfstream Capital Partners acquired 305 unsold units last November, the bulk purchaser is getting big returns on the condominiums it has successfully sold.

According to Condo Vultures, Gulfstream paid $64 million for the units, or about $181 per square foot, and has sold 32 of them at an average of about $275 per square foot through the end of the third quarter.

However, in what amounts to a microcosm of the South Florida condo market as a whole, as the sales pace has quickened, prices have dropped. In 2011 sales rose from seven units in the first quarter, to nine in the second and 14 in the third. But the price per square foot has dropped during that period from $300, to $275 and, most recently, $260.

Ten units are on the market with a median asking price of more than $340 per square foot, Condo Vultures said. [Condo Vultures]