Terra Beachside Villas, the once-distressed Miami Beach condo building that has sat empty for two years, is searching for new life as its owners look to complete a rapid turnaround from foreclosure to full health.

In the past nine months, Miami Beach-based partnership BH III has bought the distressed property from the bank, restarted construction and secured buyers for more than half of the units, said Gregory Freedman, a principal at BH III. After weeks of waiting, the condo developers received a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy this week, opening the door for contracts to be finalized and new owners to start moving in to the condos at 6000 Collins Ave.

BH III -- a partnership between Freedman, Charles Phelan and Daniel Lebensohn -- had to reduce prices drastically from what the original developer asked for back in 2004, but has seen interest spike as a result, Freedman said.

About 65 percent of the 117 units -- priced between about $250,000 and $685,000 -- have found buyers since sales kicked off in March, capitalizing on interest spanning from Coral Gables to Colombia, according to Freedman.

``We've really exceeded our expectations, considering that we had construction still going on,'' said Mark Pordes, president of Pordes Residential, the sales arm for Terra. ``Our goal is to be completely sold out by year's end -- that's what we're shooting for.''

If Pordes' optimistic sales projections pan out, Terra would represent one of the swiftest transitions to full health for a distressed property during this economic downturn.

``Price is certainly the motivator,'' said Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors. ``In the last 24 months, inventory has dropped in half and sales have doubled, and most of that new activity is because of price reductions.''

Freedman said he decided to buy Terra shortly after its lenders foreclosed in 2008, believing there would be a strong market for new Miami Beach condos even in a recession -- if the price was right.

``There is no competition for us at our price point,'' he said.

BH III was initially outbid by other investors in 2008, but, with the uncertainty of the market, none of the deals materialized, Freedman said. A year later, his group came back with another offer, lower than the first, and Regions Bank accepted it.

BH III did not disclose how much it paid to acquire the condo building, which features a 400-foot long atrium, 18-foot ceilings inside units and a 3-story cone-shaped lifestyle center. Construction on the project was recently completed, nearly seven years after Terra originally broke ground.

Terra launched in the early stages of the housing boom, quickly selling out all of its units during construction. As soon as the property -- designed by architecture firm Seiger Suarez -- went up, problems began.

First, hurricanes in the summer of 2005 stalled construction and increased material costs. Then the recession took hold, leaving the under-funded project seeking more cash and fighting liens from contractors. The lender, which itself had been sold to another financial institution, chose not to pour more money into the project, and construction on the nearly-completed project sputtered to a halt.

Buyers demanded their deposits back, with some filing suit against the stalled developers, and the lenders eventually decided to foreclose in December 2008.

Terra sat idle and empty for almost two years before BH III bought it and restarted construction and sales.

In the months since, Pordes' team has launched a sales campaign from a trailer on the property, targeting buyers in countries like Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.

About half of the buyers are from South America, yet another instance in which foreign buyers are propping up South Florida's troubled real estate market.

The sales have come at a price far below what the original developers asked for: between $600,000 and $1.5 million six years ago.

In May, BH III bought up the last 25 units at the Fountainbleau Sorrento, about two miles south of the Terra Property, for $7.2 million, about $288,000 per unit. According to Freedman, four of those units have already been purchased.