The wave of foreclosures that swept across Florida is beginning to yield some deals in the battered commercial real estate sector.

Arnall Golden Gregory partner Scott A. Fisher knows that firsthand, because he just closed a $32.5 million deal representing Bay Isle Key LLC, which includes Atlanta-based real estate investor Pollack Partners among its backers, in the purchase of 510 foreclosed apartment and condominium units in St. Petersburg.

“My client said to me … 'You know, this is the first deal we've closed in 18 months,'” recalled Fisher, who has represented Pollack Partners for years. “I said, 'You don't need to tell me that.' The fact that [the client] could find an equity partner to do the deal with is indicative of a recovery in the market.”

Fisher said competition for good real estate deals is keen these days. His client was able to land this one in part because it is a so-called “fractured condo deal,” meaning some of the units are condominiums and others are apartments. That structure, Fisher said, tends to discourage buyers looking for a simple deal.

He said the Bay Isle Key community, which includes a lake, three swimming pools, tennis courts and other amenities, initially was designed as an apartment complex. Then an investor bought it and began converting it to condos. About 70 units had been sold when the market collapsed and lender GE Capital foreclosed. A GE affiliate, Echelon Acquisition Co. LLC, represented by lawyers from Greenberg Traurig's Fort Lauderdale office, sold the units to Fisher's client.

The foreclosed units, Fisher said, sold for an average of about $63,700 each. Atlanta developer McRae & Stolz paid $59.4 million for the property in 2006, or $150,000 per unit, and then added nearly 200 units, according to a report in the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

“My understanding is that the property had been under contract before, but it was Pollack's ability to close quickly that facilitated their ability to buy the property,” Fisher said. He added, “Hopefully, this is indicative of what we will see in 2010. I would call 2009 … the year of indecision, primarily by banks.”

This year, he said, if banks get more decisive, “You're going to see more transactions like this available where you have an opportunity to buy foreclosed property or to buy loans from banks that will generate more transactional business. But in the end, the volume is going to depend on what happens in the financing market.”