New ownership is promising upgrades, resident services and a facelift following the sale of “Trailerama,” one of Marathon’s largest mobile home parks, earlier this month – but what will happen to rents inside the park remains to be seen.
A press release announced the $17.5 million deal for the 7.23-acre park, now owned by EPH Trailerama LLC. The corporation is backed by Arkansas-based commercial real estate firm Moses Tucker Partners and real estate investment firm Equity Partnership Holdings.
A photo included in EPH’s press release mistakenly showed an aerial view of the neighboring Galway Bay community, which was not part of the Trailerama sale and is separately owned.
“This asset checks every box: irreplaceable location and significant room for rent growth in one of the country’s most sought-after markets,” said Nick Forss, principal at Equity Partnership Holdings, in the release, noting the park’s combination of marina facilities and commercial frontage on U.S. 1, including space now occupied by La Niña Restaurant. “We’re proud to continue strengthening our joint portfolio with Chris Moses in premium, high-growth markets like the Florida Keys.”
Management of the property will be handled by national firm Sanddollar Communities Management under founder Jimmy Johnson, who spoke to the Weekly by phone on Aug. 26.
“We’re keeping it a mobile home park, but we’re going to be making a lot of improvements,” said Johnson. “We’re going to be redoing the roads there, installing areas for picnics and grilling for the families, bringing in Dumpsters and doing a big community cleanup. … I think everybody was scared of a redevelopment and losing their homes, but they’re happy to see there’s going to be improvements coming.”
Notices given to residents in door-to-door visits and later obtained by the Weekly outline upcoming improvements to the park, including replacing mailboxes, adding plumbing and electric utilities to marina slips, a Christmas party, entrance beautification and free repainting of trailer exteriors, as well as the updates mentioned by Johnson. A new mandatory online payment system will replace cash, check and money order rent payment.
One outstanding item yet to be addressed: rent increases, which both tenants and Johnson acknowledged were coming soon.
The Trailerama development has for years served as one of the last holdouts for affordably-priced family housing in Marathon, with dozens of children boarding school buses from the property each morning.
Tenants who spoke to the Weekly agreed with Johnson’s assessment that rents for individual units in the park were “all over the board.” Today, one source said, a sample three-bedroom trailer was still renting for $1,300 per month before the sale. Unconfirmed reports from residents said tenants were instructed to take down additions or enclosures added to existing trailers, and a meeting scheduled to occur in the next few weeks is expected to address rent increases.
Johnson told the Weekly that EPH Trailerama’s plan was to “keep it affordable, but obviously we’ve got bills to pay and a mortgage to pay.” The Weekly questioned further as to what new rental rates may look like in light of Forss’ reference to “significant room for rental growth.”
“It’s still being hammered out, and I think it will still be the cheapest in Marathon. … There are a lot of homes in there that have a lot of people in them,” Johnson said. “I know the seller had worked hard to make sure that he sold it to somebody who was going to keep it a park. … Probably 99 out of 100 other buyers, I think they’re going to go in there and scrape the place, and that’s not what we’re here to do.”
EPH’s press release called Marathon “one of the fastest-growing submarkets in the Keys,” citing “stability and long-term growth potential” for a property that provides “exceptional visibility, long-term value potential and an ability to meet critical housing and community needs.”
