by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
When new owners took downtown’s premier residential complex condo last year, renters were ushered out to make way for what was supposed to be a building full of homeowners. But Super Bowl week rents that realtors say could reach $15,000 have many of the new owners offering their apartments for corporate and residential subleases.
Real estate agents and analysts credit the Super Bowl buzz with helping invigorate sales at the Plaza Condominium at Berkman Plaza and Marina, although some warn that a more transient building could upset residents. The sublease option appeals most to large real estate investors and Berkman owners who use their river front apartment as a second home said Ed Bonneau of Embassy Realty Services.
Bonneau represents an owner shopping a one-bedroom apartment to corporate customers. Bonneau is asking $1,495 a month, but says his client could pocket 10 times that in the week leading up to the Super Bowl.
“We’ll see much larger rates around the Super Bowl,” said Bonneau. “The hotels and cruise ships are all booked and Berkman is the closest residential to anything around the stadium.
“Owners can achieve (rental) income in the $1,400 to $1,500 range, plus there’s the opportunity for a $15,000 or $20,000 pop around the Super Bowl.”
But the rentals aren’t driven entirely by Super Bowl speculators. The subleases are available now, and Bonneau said they’ll continue after the NFL has left town.
According to the Berkman sales staff, about 20 percent of the 103 units sold are owned by large investors intending to offer subleases. Building management approves every agreement.
Berkman Closing Coordinator Beverly Smith said the investment opportunity presented by subleases and the coming Super Bowl had helped drive a recent sales surge. Smith said more than 60 percent of 206 available condos had been sold and half had closed, meaning money — beyond a deposit — had changed hands. The 103 units sold represents a five-fold increase from January.
A private real estate consultant put the number at 80 closed, but Smith said that was old data.
Smith said 20 units were owned by investors with half those rented out. Bonneau said at least three of the vacant apartments were open for corporate subleases, including his client’s.
Smith expects Berkman to come close to selling out by the end of the year, but said the developer would offer open apartments for rent — at increased rates — during the Super Bowl.
“The Super Bowl has been a really good incentive,” said Smith. “The investors have bought here because of that.”
Real Estate analyst Ray Rodriguez called Berkman “the prime location in Northeast Florida,” come Super Bowl time.
“It’s within a half mile of the game and you’re on the river and it’s the best looking place to live downtown,” he said.
But Rodriguez said the subleases could create a more transient atmosphere in the building, testing the developer’s relationship with long-term owners.
“It sends a bit of a mixed message,” said Rodriguez. “If I lived there, and my intention was to be in an owner-only building, I’m not going to want people down the hall as renters.”
Owners hold more of a stake in the building’s long-term condition, said Rodriguez, and take a vested interest in upkeep. Renters, on the other hand, care little about what happens to the building after they leave.
Smith said the number of leases was relatively low and said building management could keep undesirable tenants out by withholding approval of the agreements. However, she said its largely up to the apartment owners who moves in.
“The management company has to approve the leases, but it’s up to the investors to make sure that the people they pick are the kind of people you would want to live here,” she said.
Smith said the subleases have been largely supported by residents. She said owners like the financial possibilities and said several former renters who didn’t want — or couldn’t afford — to buy their apartments had found their way back in the building through a sublease.