Eustis developer Daniel DiVenanzo recently purchased a 20-unit apartment building in downtown Eustis for $2.5 million.
Located on North Dewey Street, the 100 North Apartments was sold to DiVenanzo after the previous owner, Lima One Capital, a subsidiary of New York-based MFA Financial Inc., defaulted on its loan.
Winter Park real estate firm Hold-Thyssen Inc. was appointed to oversee the property in 2025 after foreclosure, working to broker the sale to DiVenanzo last month.
“There was a lot of deferred maintenance issues around the property with landscaping, cleanup, addressing any of the actual tenants concerns for maintenance requests and getting everybody paying rent,” Hold-Thyssen Vice President of Property Management Vik Mahadeo, who facilitated the transaction, said. “The occupancy stayed a little low, just based on the market rates that we were advertising, but collections went up to 100% and tenant satisfaction went up as well. I would say we streamlined operations.”
Operating as North Central Place LLC, DiVenanzo and business partner Ricky Nelson originally purchased the 0.8-acre property for “about $40,000” in 2018. DiVenanzo was also the original contractor for the building when construction first began on the project in 2020.
Once the property went into foreclosure, Mahadeo said Hold-Thyssen made several efforts to reposition the property — conducting tenant interviews, changing contractors, etc. — and came back into contact with DiVenanzo, who expressed interest in regaining ownership.
“That helped steer the conversation on my end as well, getting the seller comfortable with the fact that this is a guy who knows what he’s doing, knows the building and there’s not going to be a lot of haggling back and forth,” Mahadeo said. “It’s a straightforward deal, it is what it is.”
The apartment community is unique for its surroundings, according to Mahadeo, existing as the only mid-rise building in the immediate vicinity at five stories tall. All of the units have one bedroom and 1½ bathrooms and rent for around $1,350 per month.
Less about a quarter-mile east of Ferran Park and the Lake Eustis waterfront, surrounded by plenty of local shops and restaurants, Mahadeo acknowledged the apartment building has great connectivity.
“I think, as far as a place to live, it’ll be an excellent community for future tenants,” he said. “Especially with what the new owners have planned for it.”
Just over a mile southeast of the apartment community, also in Eustis, construction is set to commence soon on a $40.48 million development project for Eustis High School that would integrate ninth-grade students back into the school’s main campus and add several new facilities.
Newly constructed elements of the high school campus will include a 56,000-square-foot classroom building, weight room, field house, bus loop expansion, restroom facilities adjacent to the existing sports track, and a new parking lot. The parking lot will rise on the footprint of a former campus softball field set to be demolished.
According to Kelly Randall, Lake County Schools Executive Director of Facilities, construction is expected to begin at the end of May and finish before the 2027-2028 school year. Zyscovich is the architect for the project, and Charles Perry Partners, Inc., or CPPI, is the general contractor.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at jwilkins@orlandosentinel.com or 407-754-4980. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
