Price tag on apartments in St. Pete's Carillon: $100 million
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 4, 2022

Another Tampa Bay apartment tower has sold in a nine-figure transaction.

The 15-story Waterview Echelon City Center Apartments, in St. Petersburg’s Carillon Business Park, sold for $100 million in a sale that closed Dec. 30, according to Pinellas County property records.

The buyer, St. Petersburg-based Stoneweg US, previously announced that it had purchased the tower but did not disclose a purchase price. Public records show that Chicago-based Walton Street Capital partnered with Stoneweg on the acquisition.

The tower includes 226 units, and the sales price breaks down to approximately $442,477 a unit. As the region’s population grows, demand for apartments is at an all-time high, driving investor interest in multifamily properties. An apartment property in downtown Tampa set a new record for the Bay region in late December when it sold for more than $560,000 per unit.

A recent report by RentCafe shows an average of 22 renters applying for every vacant apartment in Tampa Bay. Rising rents have led St. Pete’s City Council to debate implementing rent control in the city, and conversations are expected to continue on whether to enact a housing state of emergency.

That rising demand has led to multifamily units selling for top dollar throughout Pinellas County. Last month, Denver-based Avanti Residential purchased the Artistry Apartments in downtown St. Petersburg in a $92.35 million deal. Two weeks ago, Colorado-based Black Creek Group bought the Alta Clearwater apartments for more than $116 million.

The developer of Waterview Echelon City Center, a partnership of Echelon LLC and Third Lake Partners, sold the apartment portion of the tower to Stoneweg and retained the retail on the bottom, according to a deed filed with the county.

“We love the area,” Ken Jones, CEO of Third Lake Partners, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “We think this submarket of St. Petersburg is a fantastic submarket and is only continuing to grow. There’s a plan for Topgolf right near there. There’s still developable property in and around that area. We remain very excited about the prospect of continuing development in the Carillon submarket. I think the Waterview tower leasing up as fast as it did really validates that thesis that this is a growing and exciting part of St. Petersburg.”

The same developers of the Waterview Echelon City Center Apartments are rumored in commercial real estate circles to be pursuing another project in the Carillon area.

The acquisition of Waterview is Stoneweg’s third investment in Tampa Bay. The apartments are near major highways and are close to downtown St. Pete.

“Over the last two years, we have seen the Tampa Bay market emerge as a clear winner in the migration trend. Due to this, along with a limited supply pipeline and the future development plans within Echelon City Center, we believe that Waterview is well-positioned to be a successful investment,” Mike Cacciatore, director of acquisitions for Stoneweg US, said in a release.