A Florida private equity firm has purchased the 108-lot senior mobile home community at the center of the stalled Avery Crossing development in southwestern Dublin, and it plans to raise rents that currently average about $450 a month toward what it calls market rate.
Sunrise Capital Investors, based in Clearwater, Florida, paid $2.88 million for Ponderosa Mobile Home Estates at the southwest corner of Avery and Rings roads, according to public records reported by NBC4. The 55-and-older community was 97% occupied at the time of sale, with 105 of its 108 homes owned by residents who rent only the lot beneath them.
The price tag is a steep drop from the $6.9 million Columbus-based developer Casto paid for the property in 2022.
"Ponderosa checks all the boxes we look for," Kevin Bupp, Sunrise Capital's chief investment officer, said in a July 28 news release. "It's a high-occupancy, majority resident-owned community in one of the most desirable submarkets in the Columbus MSA."
Sunrise Capital says comparable lots in similar communities command roughly $650 a month. The firm's stated plan calls for "phased, responsible rent increases" along with renovating two vacant company-owned homes and filling empty lots with new ones. Sunrise Capital did not respond to NBC4's requests for comment beyond its news release.
The Dublin Ledger has reached out to Sunrise Capital and city officials for comment and will update this story with any response.
What Ohio law says
Ohio has no statewide rent control, and local governments are prohibited from enacting their own. Dublin has no local ordinance capping mobile home lot rents.
According to a summary of Ohio's manufactured housing law, park owners must give residents at least 30 days' written notice before a rent increase, may raise rent only once per year unless the lease says otherwise, and increases must be reasonable and consistent with local market conditions. The state's Manufactured Homes Program does not have authority to investigate landlord-tenant disputes; residents must pursue remedies through the courts.
State law also prohibits park owners from retaliating against residents who organize, according to the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.
What's next
The Planning and Zoning Commission's Aug. 6 meeting was canceled. The next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 20; an agenda had not been posted as of NBC4's July 29 report.
Residents with questions about their lot-rent rights can contact the Ohio Department of Commerce's Manufactured Homes Program or consult an attorney.
