Miami's Related Group on Covid-19: The fundamentals have not changed at all in Tampa. If anything, they've gotten better.
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 8, 2020

In the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Miami's Related Group is as bullish as it's ever been on the Tampa Bay area.

"The fundamentals have not changed at all in Tampa. If anything, they've gotten better," Related chairman and CEO Jorge Perez told the Tampa Bay Business Journal in an exclusive interview alongside his eldest son and heir to the Related throne, Jon Paul Perez. "There's a renewed interest — and Covid has accelerated this — a renewed desire particularly for people in the Northeast and larger cities because of the taxation, weather, etcetera, to be coming to places like Florida."

The pandemic has not slowed Related at all; across the Southeast and Florida, Related is planning thousands of new housing units worth billions of dollars, from affordable housing to luxury condos. Its market-rate division is planning to start construction on nearly 6,700 units worth more than $2 billion across the Southeast in the next 12 months; Related Urban Development Group, its affordable housing arm, is planning 3,500 new units. Related also has 1,500 condominiums under development or in the works across Florida.

Tampa in particular is set to benefit from Related's growth spurt: The developer is behind The Ritz-Carlton Residences on Bayshore Boulevard as well as the 325-unit Manor West River, a new market-rate apartment community in the West River redevelopment. Related is also working with a retail developer to build a Publix Super Markets Inc. store in the West River district on vacant land across from Howard W. Blake High School — a major boon to the urban neighborhood.

Beyond real estate development, philanthropy is a major focus for Related in Tampa, Perez said. Related, he says, "wants to be the same type of neighbor in Tampa that we are in Miami" — which is not an insignificant undertaking. Perez, a passionate art benefactor, opened the Perez Art Museum in Miami in 2013 and donated another $15 million to the museum in 2016.

"We think culture is very important to the growth of a city," Perez said, "and we’re going to be very involved in that."

Related's presence in Tampa Bay has evolved significantly in Tampa Bay since it build and sold off Pierhouse Channelside in 2014 for what was then an eye-popping $214,890 per unit. (Several apartments have since sold for well over $300,000 a door, including a Related tower on Harbour Island, and another Harbour Island tower sold for more than $440,000 per unit in 2019.)

After Pierhouse, Related made a splash with the redevelopment of the Tampa Tribune property, razing the newspaper's building to make way for luxury apartment complex Manor Riverwalk. While Related sold off Pierhouse and Icon Harbor Island, Perez says he has no plans to sell off Manor Riverwalk, Icon Central and Town Westshore.

"We think they’re great long-term holds," he said, "and I think there’s going to be continued demand for apartment rentals."

The firm is also the master developer of the West River district, where it has reopened the Mary Bethune apartments and has 505 units in the works between the four towers at Boulevards at West River Towers and another 112 units in The Canopy at West River.

The development firm considers Tampa its second biggest market outside of its home base of South Florida, and Perez says he only expects housing demand to accelerate.

"Tampa is going to be attracting more and more high-end jobs," Perez said. "The university systems around Tampa are very good and getting better, and the lifestyle in Tampa is incredible, and there are big investments being made in the downtown area."

Even with a loaded pipeline of condos in the works between downtown and South Tampa, Perez maintains that the Ritz-Carlton Residences will become the city's premier address. He said Related is looking to buy more land near the Ritz project — which will redevelop the aging Bay Oaks apartments on Bayshore — and it is looking at additional condo sites as well, though he declined to identify any prospects.

"We believe Tampa hasn’t seen luxury yet," he said. "We’re very keenly aware of the condos that have sold and are still selling, and believe me, we are bringing a new standard with the Ritz — not only from an architectural view but from amenities to arts to finishes. It’s going to be unparalleled."