21-story Harbour Island apartment tower sells for record-setting price
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 12, 2019

A 21-story residential tower on Harbour Island has sold for a record-setting price per unit.

500 Harbour Island was sold to Northwestern Mutual for $103.45 million or $440,212 per apartment, according to JLL, which announced the deal Thursday.

JLL represented the seller, a partnership of Tampa's Forge Capital Partners and Intown/Framework Group, which completed the tower in 2017.

It is the first time a market-rate apartment community has surpassed $400,000 per unit, and the sales price beats the previous Tampa Bay record of $354,748 per unit, which Camden Property Trust paid for an apartment tower in downtown St. Petersburg in early 2018.

"Harbour Island is a wonderful place to live and will only get better as downtown Tampa continues to emerge as a premier live-work-play environment,” John Jacobs of Northwestern Mutual Real Estate said in a statement. "500 Harbour Island offers residents spacious, condominium-quality units with great amenities just a short distance from the excitement of the central business district.”

500 Harbour Island is the second apartment property in downtown Tampa area to sell for a top-of-market price in recent weeks. Novel Riverwalk - which has since been rebranded Anchor Riverwalk - sold for more than $312,000 per door on Sept. 6.

The first apartment building to top $300,000 per unit in Tampa was Crescent Bayshore - now 2Bayshore - in 2014. The JLL Capital Markets team representing the seller was led by senior managing director Matt Mitchell and senior directors Zach Nolan and Brett Moss.

"This transaction is another example that the Tampa market is a top-tier market for commercial real estate investment,” Mitchell said in a statement. "The capital markets view Tampa's growth and fundamentals very favorably, and the continued transformation of downtown Tampa is very appealing to investors.”

Northwestern Mutual has hired ZRS Management to oversee 500 Harbour Island. "With the acquisition of 500 Harbour Island, Northwestern Mutual has purchased a preeminent community in one of Tampa's most sought-after neighborhoods,” Darren Pierce of ZRS Management said in a statement. "ZRS is honored to expand our relationship with Northwestern Mutual and excited to create the highest caliber living experience for the residents of 500 Harbour Island.”