1218 Duval Street, Key West - Mixed Use Commercial & Residential

1218 Duval Street, Key West - Offered For Sale at $1,845,000

The listing Realtor, not me, describes this property this way:

Location, Location, Location! Duval street property consisting of 2 buildings with 4 residential units and 1 high-visibility commercial unit. Over 3000 Sq Ft of Air-conditioned space and more than 1000 Sq Ft of covered porches with a fantastic view of the Atlantic ocean. Situated on a large lot with parking for 4+ cars and a tropically landscaped pool area. Property is in a receivership zone for City of Key West transient licenses and has had many recent upgrades.

I searched my old shoe box and found the black and white photo taken in 1965 when the property may still have been a single family home or possibly used as apartments. I then searched the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps and learned that this property probably existed before the first map was drafted in 1889. The front building was then identified as 57 Duval Street. Later the number was changed to 1220 Duval. The change to 1218 Duval St does not appear as of the 1912 map so I can only surmise the number change occurred after 1912.  The black and white photo  shows a vacant spot south of the property. The color photo above taken in December 2015 shows that same space as being vacant. Yet the 1912 Sanborn map shows that there was house located on that spot identified as 1224 Duval Street. I assume that building was either razed or destroyed by fire. The 1912 map showed a lengthy addition to the rear which extended to the west property line and a stairway that led to the second floor of the main building. Neither that extension nor the stairway survive. There is a new building at the rear which is partially visible in the photo below. There are two residential units in that building. .

The Monroe County Property Appraiser shows this property as having 3084 sq ft of interior living space situated on a 68' X 100' lot. The property is located about 70 feet north of United Street in a block which is a mix of restaurants, shops, and residential uses. There are spaces for off street parking on either side of the property. The property enjoys a dominant presence in this section of Old Town.

The front building has retail usage on the front side of the ground floor. There is an apartment on    the rear side which has a large covered rear porch. There is also a second floor apartment which has front and rear porches.

The second floor apartment has a great front porch for watching people watching. Inside there are two good sized bedrooms, a living room and dining area, plus kitchen and bath. That apartment also has a private second floor covered porch which looks down to the shared pool.

The rear building has two fully equipped apartments each with private porches with views of the pool and toward the south parking area. The lot is spacious. The pool is an added feature that makes this an ideal location for upscale residential rentals for locals. I think the current rents are under market.

A new owner might convert the historic front building into a large single family home which could be rented as a luxury monthly vacation rental. The two rear apartments could be likewise upgraded and made into small luxury rentals.  On the other hand, the current use works. I did not see any noticeable deferred maintenance. So a new owner might just consider keeping things the way they are but maybe carving out one space for personal use. 

1218 Duval Street went under contract very quickly after it was listed. It just came back on the market and is priced to sell at $1,845,000. CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and to view listing photos. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing before this incredible property gets snapped up by someone else. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

1017 Windsor Lane, Key West - Bank Owned Investment Property

Just Listed 1017 Windsor Lane in Key West. This Bank Owned investment property ought to sell quickly. It is located in Old Town and across the street from St. Mary's Basilica. The listing Realtor describes the property as:

"Located in Old Town this 4 unit income producing property is legally permitted. One 2 bedroom/1 bath house, Two-1 bedroom/1 bath Apartments and One 2 bedroom/1 bath Apartment upstairs. Great Investment Opportunity."

This property consists of two separate buildings. The front house was built in 1963 and is a one story ranch style house with a nice open living area and kitchen combination.  There are two bedrooms and one bath in this 1081 sq ft home. There is a front deck located amid the trees and flora in the front yard plus a rear deck (33' X 12'). The interior floors are terrazzo. This house has central air conditioning. The house appears to be CBS construction with stucco overlay. The roof looks to be asphalt shingle. The house needs cleaned and painted but looked to me to be in pretty good condition.  The kitchen and bath are dated, but they ought to work fine for this investment property. Of course any buyer will need to have a thorough home inspection to advise as to the structure.

The Monroe County Property Appraiser shows the rear building as being a 1768 sq ft two story building with CBS foundation which was built new in 1985. It looks to me that the building is stucco over wood frame construction. There are two first floor units each of which has a living area, kitchen, bath, one bedroom, and a rear wood deck with laundry hook-up.

The second floor apartment takes up the entire second floor. It has an open living area with kitchen plus two good sized bedrooms (one with large walk in closet), bathroom, and laundry.  This unit does not have a deck per se. The second floor balcony does provide outdoor space and it is private. The views are of the church yard across the street and neighboring rear yards. The lot measures 48.5' X 114' or 5529 sq ft.  CLICK HERE to view more photos I took of this property.

While I do not rent apartments in Key West, I have a pretty good sense of what typical apartments rent for on a long term monthly basis. These units would never function as "vacation rentals", but they would be very successful long term residential apartments that should rent instantly because of the convenient location, set-up, size, individual washer/dryer, and some private outdoor space. I think the front house ought to rent between $3,000 to $3,300.  The two one bedroom units ought to rent somewhere between $1,300 to $1,500. The upstairs two bedroom unit ought to rent for $2,500 or more. The landlord would pay water, sewer and trash. Each unit has a separate electric meter and the tenant would pay that charge. If you check Craigslist. org you'll find that my estimate of rental price is the average price being sought. There are few rentals in Key West in any price range. These would get rented quickly.

I looked through my old shoebox and found a couple of aerial photos taken of the area in the 1960s. The predominate feature in both photos is St. Mary's which is located across the street. You'll notice a huge linear building that extends across much of the church grounds. That building burned and no longer exists. What a pity. That was a very interesting building. I added white arrows to the photos below to indicate the location of 1017 Windsor Lane. If you study the black and white photos you may be able to find the old Scotty's Lumber yard where First State Bank is now located, the town homes on Catherine Street, the former trailer park on Truman which is now Windward Park, Suburban Propane's tank farm among others.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet on 1017 Windsor Lane which is offered for sale at $798,000. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a private showing of this attractive Key West investment property.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. 

225 Petronia Street, Key West - Investment Property

Just listed - 225 Petronia Street. This commercial/residential  property is located two blocks west of Duval Street at the corner of Thomas Street in Key West. The listing Realtor describes the property this way:

"Fantastic potential for this large property in Bahama Village. One of the premier commercial locations in the area. Across from Blue Heaven, La Creperie and Johnson's Grocery; just hard to find a better location on what is proposed to be the entrance street to the waterfront at Truman annex."

I looked in my old shoebox and found a photo of this same building that was taken back in 1965. The black and white photo shows an adjacent building located to the right. That building which appears to be a single family residence no longer exists. The empty space is now used as parking for the building at 225 Petronia Street. I checked the Monroe County Property Appraiser's files and learned that the CBS (concrete block structure) was built in 1953 and has 2156 sq ft. of mixed-use space. In One Era Antiques is the current tenant in the commercial space. The balance of the building is residential. The 5292 sq ft lot has 98 feet frontage on Petronia Street and 54 feet frontage on Thomas Street. There is gated and fenced parking on the Thomas Street side.

I found a second photo also taken in the 1960s that shows Bop Brown's Jazzy Spot which was previously numbered as 225 Petronia Street. That building was razed and expanded or incorporated into the current CBS building.  

Frequent readers may recall that I wrote about nearby 221 Petronia Street (above photo) when it was offered for sale in mid January. That fire ridden building just sold for $460,000 cash. I think it equally possible that the 221 Petronia Street property might be razed and rebuilt or that it might be renovated into commercial usage. The Firefly Restaurant is located between 221 and 225 Petronia Street. CLICK  HERE to view more photos of the area.

The listing agent believes the current CBS building  at 225 Petronia Street can be razed and a new mixed use building could be built in its place similar to what was constructed across the street at 300 Petronia where La Creperie is now located. I found two photos of the previous smaller commercial building at 300 Petronia which was razed to make way for the current 2 1/2 story building. The new building has commercial space down and two apartments on the second level plus two off street parking spots. The 300 Petronia Street lot is 4,433sq ft or 861 sq ft small than the parcel at 225 Petronia St.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet on 225 Petronia Street. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing of this property. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.