The big payoff for condo owners

8995 Collins Avenue
8995 Collins Avenue

From the April issueChristmas came early for 36 condominium owners in a Surfside 1960s-era building located on the same cul-de-sac where the Surf Club Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences is being built.

Between Oct. 27 and Oct. 30 of last year, Manhattan developer Jason Halpern’s JMH Development plunked down a combined $55 million for a bulk acquisition of the seven-floor Shore House tower at 8995 Collins Avenue, paying between $890,000 and $1.5 million for units that barely broke the $300,000 range in fair market value, according to Miami-Dade County’s property appraiser.

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Halpern isn’t the only builder playing the role of Santa Claus. Across South Florida, developers are on a buying binge for condo buildings on or near the water that were built during or before the Richard Nixon era. And some condo owners are receiving up to five times the fair market value for their properties. The transactions signal a shift in South Florida’s bulk condo-buying submarket, which played a major role in the real estate industry’s recovery following the 2008 crash, real estate experts told The Real Deal. [more]