Sunday notebook: New owner plans no changes with Stevens Duval Apartments

Stevens Duval Apartments, the former Duval High School on Ocean Street downtown, has a new owner.

Mulligan Housing Group LLC, based in Massachusetts, bought the senior-living apartment building recently from the Ida M. Stevens Foundation for $1.82 million.

Stephen Schneider of Mulligan said as of Thursday, 50 of the 52 units were occupied. He said he simply intends to keep running the building as it is.

His company, under various names, has multifamily units in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but the only other one in Florida is in Fort Pierce. This is his first building geared to seniors.

"It's a well-operated building, it's in great shape, so it's easy to take over," he said. "And it's small enough that we can learn as we go."

The center part of the building was completed in 1908 with annexes completed in 1920 and 22. In 1977, the School Board declared it a surplus and sold it to the Stevens Foundation for $85,000. Ted Pappas redesigned it as apartments and it was converted in 1980 for $1.7 million.

Peninsula near sellout

On the other end of history, the Peninsula at Southbank is getting awfully close to selling out. Paul Bobik of Palladium Realty Group, which has been marketing it for the past year, said as of Friday afternoon, 11 of the 334 condominium units are still unsold.

The price range: $200,000 to $1.5 million.

Bobik said the entire building had been presold in 2007. But when the bottom fell out of the market, a lot of those buyers walked away.

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Sunday notebook: New owner plans no changes with Stevens Duval Apartments