Brought to you by

February 17, 2006

Flamingo under contract to go condo

Susan Stabley

Part of 'The Bird' is about to be bought. MCZ/Centrum Developers, a Chicago-based condo conversion joint venture, is hammering out a contract to buy part of the Flamingo South Beach, a well-known 1,688-unit rental complex on 16 acres along Biscayne Bay.

A deal to buy one of the three towers in the apartment complex, at 1500 Bay Road, may close by Monday, confirmed Jennifer Arons, MCZ/Centrum's vice president of sales and marketing.

The two other buildings may eventually be purchased, as well, she said, but declined further comment.

Denver-based seller AIMCO decided to put the Miami Beach apartment buildings on the market last summer.

Through affiliate company Morton Towers Apartments LP, AIMCO (NYSE: AIV) had offered to sell the Flamingo's three towers and other improvements, but keep the land through a simultaneous 99-year land lease.

MCZ/Centrum Developers has converted at least six apartment buildings in South Florida. The most recent is the Sian, a multi-phase conversion that includes transforming the Ambassador Resort in Hollywood Beach into a condo-hotel.

Other projects have been Parc Central East in Aventura, formerly part of The Bay Club; The Tides and The Wave on Hollywood Beach; The Wave and Cit� near the Miami Performing Arts Center.

Because of the different ages of the towers and size of the units, estimating a sales price for the Flamingo is complicated. The Miami Beach complex was first built in 1960; the newest tower was constructed in 2001, county records show.

AIMCO rehabilitated the two older towers and built the third.

The CB Richard Ellis team selling the Flamingo comprises Executive Vice Presidents Jay Massirman and Sean Cunningham, First Vice President Robert Given and Senior Associate Gerard Yetming.

Led by Massirman, the brokers are projecting more than $3.5 billion in multi-family property sales this year, with 90 percent of those buildings slated for conversion.

In 2005, CB Richard Ellis' South Florida Multi-Housing Group sold 57 multi-family properties - more than 19,900 units. About $2.7 billion in sales and financings were closed, plus $1.1 billion put under contract. That breaks their 2004 record of $2.6 billion sold or contracted.

Of the deals last year, 48 were condo conversions, more than double the number from the prior year. CB Richard Ellis said nearly 98 percent of all activity last year resulted in turning rental apartments into condos.

The Miami firm cited research that 57,240 units have been pulled from the area's rental pool since 2002.