Fontainebleau III Sorrento

Condo expert Mark Pordes has completed the sale of the last 25 units at Fontainebleau Sorrento for $7.2 million. The ultimate purchaser was BH III, the current owner of Terra Beachside at 6000 Collins Ave. on Miami Beach. Pordes Residential Sales & Marketing handles exclusive on-site marketing sales for the 116-unit upscale condominium project.

This latest transaction is the second bulk sale completed by Pordes at the Fontainebleau Sorrento. The first package of units took place in August 2009 to a private investor group from New York for roughly $8 million.

“Bulk sales are working in this market because they provide developers/sellers with a quick cash solution and buyers with an excellent investment opportunity without the development risk,” says Pordes, founder and president of Pordes Residential Sales & Marketing in Aventura. “These deals will stay popular as long as lenders are in control of projects.

In early June 2010, Pordes negotiated the largest condominium bulk sale of the year -- 146 units at the luxury 2700 North Ocean condominium towers on Singer Island in Palm Beach County for approximately $120 million to a private equity fund from New York.

As with other deals, the Fontainebleau sale was handled quietly to protect the global reputation of the Miami Beach resort-hotel and its associated properties.

“There was no public bidding and no negative publicity,” says Pordes. “We position each transaction so that the purchased units won’t compete with the ones that may still be for sale by the developer. It’s complicated, but we make it work.”