Apartments in St. Pete's historic Kenwood sell for $125 million
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 21, 2021

An apartment development in St. Petersburg's historic Kenwood neighborhood has sold for $125 million.

Dallas-based Lurin Real Estate Holding XLII LLC acquired the 431-unit, 10-acre property at 3151 Third Ave. N from Miami-based Altis Cardinal, according to Pinellas County property records. The sales price breaks down to $290,023 per apartment. The property went to market this summer.

The group first acquired the first portion of the site — named the Sea Glass Tower — in 2012. Included in the campus are six residential buildings and amenity buildings including the Steel Lofts, Sunshine Flats, Stone Lofts and Sea Glass tower.

Frank Guerra, founder and principal of Altis Cardinal, said they recognized there was a limited amount of land in the area and that there were "only so many projects you can put on Central Avenue." So after studying the region he said they believed development would shift west and began buying up properties to make the 10-acre development. The sale price has proven their instinct was correct.

"The rents are what’s driving this pricing," Guerra said. "The rents have just really significantly increased. The number of people moving to Florida and in particular, Tampa and St. Pete, has been steady and significant."

The massive campuswide development offers floor plans ranging from studios to three-bedroom units and includes two pools, a lounge with views of downtown, two wellness clubs, a game room, resident cowork space, luxury pet spa, a pet park, outdoor CrossFit-style workout space and a resident art swap and trade area.

Altis Cardinal also owns a storage building on the site of the former Mosley Hotel in St. Pete. Guerra said they have not yet decided if they will sell that site, but that they are "actively pursuing other opportunities" in the St. Pete area. He said that once development was finished they were ready to "cycle that money" into a series of new deals.

"We’ve had a lot of interest on this property for a while," Guerra said. "We’ve been getting unsolicited offers even before we finished construction. It’s a model that we’ve rolled out in different places. The first project I did in Miami was Neo Lofts, which was in the middle of Little Havana in an area that hadn’t seen new development in nearly three decades. Finding the path of development parcels where we see the development wave coming toward it is something we like to do because it’s buying value on the front end."

The sale comes amid multiple nine-figure apartment sales on both sides of Tampa Bay. In August, Icon Central in downtown St. Petersburg sold for $149 million; Anchor Riverwalk sold for $157 million. The region's population boom is driving investor interest in multifamily real estate, pushing sales prices and rents to historic highs.