Sales at Southeast Orlando Condo Community Hit $27 million

Brought to you by

One of the first condominium conversions in Orlando aimed specifically for the affordable-minded, first-time buyer is ringing up sales at a fast clip.

Miriada, a 260-unit garden-style condominium community located on Dixie Belle Drive just south of Curry Ford Road in southeast Orlando, has topped the $27 million sales mark with 150 of the residential units sold, according to Jenny Goodman of Signature GMAC Real Estate. Signature is handling the sales and marketing of the 12-year community formerly called Royal Palms Apartments.

Miriada is being developed by Miles Development Partners, an Atlanta-based multifamily development and management company that owns several developments in Orlando and the Tampa Bay area.

Miles Development has pumped in more than $10 million for the transformation from what once was a run-down rental apartment complex into what has become a showcase residential community in just more than seven months.

Miriada offers units based priced under $200,000, according to Miles Development Partners Project Manager John Huckaby.

Units for the one-, two- and three-bedroom units -- all of which feature separate dens with closets -- offer between 830 and 1,192 square feet of living space. Base prices range from $159,900 to $199,900.

All of the units have been totally refurbished inside and out and feature gourmet kitchens with stainless steel appliances, including a wine cooler and refrigerator, granite countertops, hardwood floors with matching cabinetry, black slate tile in master baths, full-size washers and dryers, and ceiling fans.

"We wanted to keep prices below $200,000 and enhance our appeal to first-time buyers who for the most part have been priced out of the housing market," Goodman says.

Miles Development Partners, a subsidiary of Miles Properties Inc., a multifamily ownership and management company founded in 1990, was looking at a February 2007 sellout but may have to revise those early projections if Miriada maintains its current pace.

Miriada is one of several condominium communities in the area in which Signature GMAC is handling the sales and marketing. The company, one of Central Florida's largest locally owned and operated real estate companies with 10 offices and nearly 250 sales partners, also is handling Park Central Condominiums near the Mall at Millenia, Serenata at MetroWest and Urbana in Hunter's Creek.

Signature GMAC posted $400 million in sales last year.