Real estate investors based in Florida and metro Detroit have purchased the 144-unit Carlton Apartments in Detroit's Lafayette Park for $11.55 million.

Birmingham-based M Group and Florida-based Andover Real Estate Partners closed on the deal Friday, according to a news release from West Bloomfield Township-based Greystone Bel Real Estate Advisors.

Greystone Bel represented the seller, S&R Parcel 10 LLC.

M Group, a real estate acquisition and investment firm with 20 properties in its portfolio, has worked with Andover Partners on several previous deals in Michigan. This is M Group's first purchase in Detroit, principal Ira Mondry said.

The team plans nearly $2 million in renovations, first on the exteriors of the complex's 13 buildings, Mondry said. It also expects to improve paving and landscaping, and then the interiors over time as units come available. Rainy Hamilton of Detroit-based Hamilton Anderson Associates is handling architecture work.

The apartment complex at 1387 E. Larned St. is just east of downtown Detroit and I-375, across from the incoming small-format Meijer Inc. store. The 2 1/2-story buildings' units are an average of 887 square feet, with studios and one- and two-bedrooms available. The complex was built in 1971.

Mondry declined to comment specifically on rents after renovation but said the team aims to keep rates "below market."

"We're interested in working with our existing tenants," he said. "We're not going to be kicking anybody out or anything like that."

Rental prices under the previous property manager, Farmington Hills-based Silverside Management, were $720-$750 for studios, $800-$850 for one-bedrooms and $900-$950 for two-bedrooms, according to Andrew Hillabrand, the new property manager under Troy-based LR Management.