Ritz-Carlton Residences developer has presold an $11 million penthouse
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 28, 2021

The developer behind the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Tampa, says a local buyer is under contract to pay $11 million for a penthouse in the project’s first tower.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences — which do not include hotel rooms, only Ritz-branded condominiums — will replace the aging Bay Oaks apartments on Bayshore Boulevard. Miami-based Related Group paid $26.5 million for the Bay Oaks property in 2019.

The Ritz-Carlton Residences include 170 condominiums split between two towers and 12 townhouses. About half of the units in the first tower are presold, Related President Jon Paul "JP" Perez told the Tampa Bay Business Journal — before Related has opened its sales center for the project. The developer has gutted and renovated a portion of one of the apartment buildings on the site into a sales center that will feature model bathrooms, kitchens and more. It will open in the coming weeks.

Toni Everett Co. is marketing the Ritz condos for sale.

In pre-construction condo sales, developers typically accept refundable deposits on units and then convert those reservations to contracts as they move closer to construction. Once a reservation converts to a contract, buyers put down a larger, nonrefundable deposit on their unit and close on the property once the building is complete. Related has started converting Ritz reservations to contracts, Perez said, and plans to begin construction by the end of the year.

Once the first tower reaches 80% presold, Related will likely launch a presales campaign for the second, Perez said.

“The Tampa market historically has been slower than the Miami market [for presales],” he said, “but to have 55% sold in 75 to 90 days — we feel very good about it. We’re hoping once we open the sales center, that in the next 90 to 120 days, we’re sold out.”

If the $11 million penthouse sale closed today, it would be a new record sales price for a condo for Tampa. The current record for a condo, $7.2 million, was set by The Sanctuary at Alexandra Place in a deal that closed in early September.

By the time the Ritz opens and buyers close on condos, another tower may have trounced its $11 million penthouse sale. The Edition Tampa, a hotel-condo in Water Street Tampa, is set to open by the end of the year — and it will also offer ultra-luxe branded condos.

Perez said Related hasn’t yet hired a general contractor for the Ritz, though it is working closely with one. Related, which recently sold downtown St. Petersburg apartment tower Icon Central for $149 million, is looking for more sites throughout the Tampa Bay region — for luxury apartments, condominiums and attainable housing — Perez said.

Related is also the master developer of the $350 million West River redevelopment, which includes mixed-income housing, as well as market-rate buildings Town Westshore, Manor Riverwalk and the tower formerly known as Icon Harbour Island. The developer considers Tampa its second-biggest market outside of its home base of Miami — and compared to Miami, Tampa still has a lot of potential upside to its real estate, Perez said.

The developer is “aggressively looking” for sites on Bayshore for a third phase of the Ritz, Perez said, and is looking at multiple sites in Tampa and St. Petersburg for market-rate and luxury products for its Town and Icon products. Related sees the potential to build up to 10,000 units in this region in the next decade, Perez said, given its population growth and the creation of new, high-paying jobs.

“Compare waterfront condos such as the Ritz to those in places like Miami Beach — it’s relatively cheap still,” he said. “So I think it’s still a market that has not experienced the same run-up in prices as a market like Miami, but I think over time it will catch up to Miami.”

In the wake of several scorching apartment sales, including its own Icon Central, Related is evaluating whether to sell its market-rate multifamily properties in the region.

“We’re studying that every day and then making the decision whether we think there’s more room for growth or to sell an asset and continue to invest and build new,” he said. “So there’s no right or wrong answer. It just all depends on where we want to put our capital. At the end of the day, everything is for sale at the right price, right?”