Miami's most prolific condo developer' is bullish on downtown Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 25, 2015

One of the most credible real estate developers in Florida sees downtown Tampa's real estate market as "very promising" for years to come.

Miami-based Related Group has confirmed its plans to redevelop the Tampa Tribune's waterfront office building into an eight-story residential tower with 400 units.

Related is under contract to buy the 4.4-acre site and lease it back to the Tribune, said Arturo Pena, a vice president and development manager for the company. Demolition of the existing Tribune building depends on the terms of the lease, which have yet to be finalized.

Jorge Perez, CEO of Related, is " the most prolific condominium developer in Miami," according to sister news organization the South Florida Business Journal.

In Tampa real estate circles, Related has a stellar reputation as a developer that has the ability take complex deals like the Tribune redevelopment to completion. "When Related's doing something, it's real," a source said to me this week.

Related doesn't expect to close on the property until the first quarter of 2016 - so it will likely be at least early 2018 before construction wraps up. That kind of timeframe means Related has faith that there will be steady demand for luxury units in downtown Tampa for the next several years.

"We have a long-term horizon in the city of Tampa," Pena told TBBJ. "We have our eye on Tampa not just for now but for the long term."

The company has already been successful here, selling off the Pierhouse at Channelside for more than $214,000 per apartment in 2014. That price represents the very high end of Tampa's apartment market. Few properties in the city trade at more than $200,000 per unit.

Pena said Related's opinion of the market is also shaped by Mayor Bob Buckhorn's focus on downtown Tampa and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik's plans to build a billion-dollar, mixed-use district between Amalie Arena and the central business district.

"We think waterfront real estate cannot be recreated," Pena said, "and that Tampa will continue to be a fantastic place to live."

Not every developer has that much confidence in the market: As TBBJ explored recently, some in the apartment industry think the rental market could be getting close to a peak. One veteran of Tampa real estate development said his group walked away from the Tribune site because it was so expensive, they weren't sure they could make the numbers work.

While luxury urban developments are risky, there's perhaps never been a better time to take that risk in Tampa. Gov. Rick Scott has signed off on funding for the relocation of the University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine to Vinik's district.

Vinik's team is also working to lure a corporate headquarters to his district. If both the corporate headquarters plans and the medical school come to fruition, there will be sustained demand for the types of luxury developments Related is known for.

By the time Related is ready to break ground, the project could make sense as condominiums. Condo prices are rising steadily in downtown Tampa, though they're not yet at the $400 per square foot price point necessary to make new construction profitable. But real estate agents say the market is tipping toward new construction, with unprecedented demand for condos in the urban core.