The Club of the Isle, a 264-unit condominium complex on Galveston's West End, is under contract to a Marquette Land Investments, a Chicago-based real estate firm with substantial holdings on the island.

• Marquette’s interest in the complex, which originally began as luxury apartments before being converted to condominiums, is another signal that investors are betting on a real estate rebound on the island.

Houston developer Chaparral Group built Club of the Isle in 2003 as a luxury apartment complex, one of several designed to meet a growing demand by affluent consumers in a boom time for the island. In 2006, Chaparral Group sold the property to Club Lodgings, which converted the complex into condominiums. Only a “handful” of tenants own their units. The rest are renters, Sloniger said.

• Should Marquette acquire the property, the real estate firm would market it as an apartment complex, Sloniger said. One arm of Marquette manages more than 10,000 apartment units across the nation. “It has to work for us as an apartment complex,” he said. Investor interest in the island’s apartment and condominium scene is driven by bargain prices as lenders take properties or owners want to shake off debt.

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Marquette Land Investments is best known for purchasing the $33 million / 1,050 acres that was long part of the Chapoton Ranch, about three miles from Club of the Isle. Marquette envisions a master-planned community with 4,000 single-family homes and condominiums, an 18-hole golf course, a marina and a 15-story hotel on the tract.