Seminole apartment community sells for $85 million
The price per unit was among the higher in the Tampa Bay area.

By Susan Taylor Martin
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Nov 26, 2019

SEMINOLE - A Virginia-based company has bought the 330-unit Courtney at Bay Pines apartment community for $85.14 million or $258,000 per unit, among the higher per unit prices paid for a bay area apartment complex. Located at 4652 Miramar Drive, the Courtney was built between 2012 and 2014 at a total cost including land of just more than $28 million.

Mark Ely, Seminole's community development director, calls the complex "gorgeous,'' noting that it , Walmart, Holiday Inn and other newer construction in the area had to be built in a Mediterranean Revival style to complement that of the Veterans Administration complex at Bay Pines.

"The developer, Contravest, told me that the only way they could build that kind of quality apartment project outside of a downtown area was because the project was bid out and built during the recession when labor and material costs were lower,'' Ely said. "I have had appraisers tell me they though the project was condos based on the quality.''

The seller reaped about a 300 percent profit on the transaction. The new owner is General Services Corp. of Richmond, which has several other apartment complexes in the Tampa Bay area.