A developer saved more than $140,000 in property sales tax in an off-the-record purchase of a Coconut Grove apartment complex, according to a published report.
The sale price was undisclosed but an affiliate of the development company Terra Group, which bought the Summer Hill Apartments, immediately took out a $23 million mortgage on the seven-story, 97-unit building at 2678 Tigertail Avenue.
Instead of buying the building in an open sale, the buyer, CG Summer Investments, became a managing member of the previous owner, Sugar Hill Apartments, which was incorporated in 1968, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
Florida law permits related entities to transfer deeds between them, thus allowing Terra to pay just 60 cents, rather than more than the $140,000 it would have likely been liable for based on the size of the mortgage, the publication
reported.[South Florida Business Journal] —William J. Gorta