The Downtown East Apartments at 888 Franklin St. sold Nov. 15 for $8 million.
The 98-unit property is in Jacksonville’s Eastside neighborhood.
Knarrs Ventures LLC of Austin, Texas, sold the apartments through Flknarrs LLC.
The buyer was the Jacksonville Housing Authority through JHA Franklin Arms LLC of Jacksonville. The per-unit price is $81,632.
Knarrs Ventures LLC bought the apartments in March 2015 for $2.2 million from Arvin Soltani of Jacksonville.
Formerly known as the Franklin Arms Apartments, it had been deemed a nuisance property by the city in August 2022.
In August, the Daily Record reported that the Jacksonville Housing Authority board voted to enter into three private partnerships that are expected to create 789 new and upgraded affordable and low-income housing units. The authority estimated the project would cost $160.42 million.
The housing authority is partnering with The Integral Group LLC of Atlanta, Tre Bel Housing of Miami and LIFT JAX, a Jacksonville-based nonprofit community revitalization group.
For the Franklin Arms purchase, the authority is partnering with LIFT JAX and expects to invest $11.5 million to buy the apartments and renovate the property.
The authority will spend $2 million and LIFT JAX will add $1.5 million toward the renovations, according to an August news release.
The four-story apartment building, built in 1971, sits on 1.6 acres.
The studio and one-bedroom units average 552 square feet. Monthly rents are $725 to $825 with a fixed $150 for utilities. Management and maintenance is on-site.
The apartments are north of the Arlington Expressway and west of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and about a mile north of EverBank Stadium.
There are two additional developments in West Jacksonville.
Tre Bel is expected to build a 431-unit apartment with a mix of market rate and subsidized rents at 7166 Ramona Blvd.
The authority and Integral Group will partner to acquire and renovate the Westwood Apartments at 1171 Lane Ave. S. for $35.8 million.
The authority will invest another $5.12 million to renovate the 256 units at a cost of $20,000 per unit.