Miami-based real estate developer Crescent Heights has purchased The Strand, the 295-unit apartment property along the Southbank Downtown, for $53.3 million.
CBRE Senior Vice President Brian Moulder, the broker on the sale, said this morning that the acquisition may signify a shift for the local real estate market.
He said that for a “national player” to enter the Jacksonville market indicates a change in how major investors see the city’s housing market.
“If you had asked me two or three years ago if I thought a group like Crescent Heights would come to Jacksonville, I probably would have said no,” said Moulder.
Asked whether Crescent Heights will convert the apartments at The Strand into condominiums, Moulder said it’s not likely, based on the current rental rates compared to potential mortgage payments and the new owner’s track record.
He said properties acquired by Crescent Heights in the past several years, including in major metropolitan markets like New York City and San Francisco,
have remained on the rental market.
The sale of The Strand could be the beginning of a trend.
Moulder said CBRE in Jacksonville has closed close to $1 billion in commercial real estate sales this year and “there’s more in
the pipeline by the end of the year.”
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