A former Market Street hotel property, which now houses 230 apartments, changed hands earlier this month in a $17.6 million deal.

Vivo Investment Group purchased the former Budgetel Inn and Motel 6 and the surrounding nearly eight acres at 4903 Market St. in late 2021 for $11 million. A deed recorded on June 18 shows COW Wilmington LLC purchased the property from Vivo Living Wilmington LLC for just over $17.6 million.

The purchasing entity was established in May, according to a filing with the North Carolina Secretary of State, and lists its principal office address as 2002 Coffee Pot Blvd. NE in St. Petersburg, Florida.

A person who answered a call to the number listed on the LLC filing said the complex would remain “workforce housing” but declined to provide additional details. Other attempts to reach the new owners for more information proved unsuccessful. 

The St. Petersburg-based MPI Family Office lists the property at 4903 Market St. as an acquisition on its website. The organization specializes in “wealth preservation and value creation” through the “use of income-producing real estate and various wealth strategies that revolve around taxes, insurance and ownership structures,” the website states.

Officials with the California-based Vivo Living also did not immediately respond to questions about the property’s sale. The company, which specializes in converting hotels into rentals, spent months rezoning and renovating the property into 230 efficiency apartments. The complex opened to residents in 2023. 

Some in the local real estate market have pointed to the project as an example of the adaptive reuse that’s helping shift stretches of Market Street into a more residential corridor. Just east of the Vivo Living complex, the former AmeriVu Inn & Suites at 2828 Market St. was also converted into long-term rentals, opening to renters last year.