Downtown Tampa apartment tower sold to Charleston buyer
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 6, 2020

One of the first high-rise apartment towers to break ground in downtown Tampa this real estate cycle has a new owner.

Nine15, a 23-story, 362-unit tower on North Franklin Street, has been sold to Charleston, South Carolina-based Blaze Partners. The seller was the original developer — Atlanta-based Carter, which delivered the tower in 2017.

A purchase price was not disclosed, and a deed for the transaction has not yet been filed. But if other recent multifamily transactions in the downtown core are any indication, the Nine15 sale is likely around or over $100 million. Nine15 sits on just over an acre and includes 9,000 square feet of street-level storefronts. Osteria Kitchen Bar and Kitchen, an Italian restaurant, is a major tenant of Nine15's retail space.

Novel Riverwalk sold for $123 million or $312,182 per apartment in September 2019. While Novel Riverwalk boasts proximity to the Tampa Riverwalk as a major amenity, it is a midrise apartment building. Nine15's high-rise construction will likely command similar — if not higher — pricing.

Nine15 is Blaze's first acquisition in the Tampa market.

"To have our first investment be a deal of this profile and magnitude exemplifies our long-term bullish outlook on the region and belief in the vitality of the downtown transformation," Eddy O'Brien, co-founder and managing partner of Blaze, said in a statement.

Blaze says it has acquired or currently has under control approximately $800 million in apartment properties on behalf of institutional equity partners. It is focused on real estate throughout the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Texas.

"This transaction marks a continuation of our acquisition strategy focused on acquiring recently-developed, Class A communities in dynamic submarkets within the premier growth markets throughout the Sunbelt," Chris Riley, co-founder and managing partner of Blaze, said in a statement. "We are actively building our pipeline and continue to have a healthy capital appetite for the right opportunities."