New York developer plans single-family rental community in Wesley Chapel
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 2, 2022

A New York investment firm will develop its first built-to-rent single-family community in Florida in Wesley Chapel.

GTIS Partners plans to build 260 single-family rental homes on 72 acres in Wesley Chapel, the firm told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. In 2021, GTIS invested $50 million in entry-level housing in the Tampa Bay area via a joint venture partnership with Homes by Westbay.

River Landing is the fourth built-to-rent community GTIS has announced — its first in Florida and its first outside of the Phoenix metro area.

The company is no stranger to Florida: It’s been investing here since the Great Recession and subsequent real estate market crash and has been investing in the Tampa market for a decade. Since entering Florida, GTIS has committed approximately $395 million of equity across 30 projects, with a total development cost of $2.3 billion.

GTIS paid $8.3 million for the property in late 2021, according to Pasco County property records; GTIS says the budget for the development is $68 million. The seller was Zephyr Egg Co., which has been selling its property to residential developers for almost 20 years.

Nancy Surak of Land Advisors Organization represented GTIS in the transaction.

The site has access to State Road 56 and is close to the Shoppes at New Tampa, a Publix Super Markets Inc.-anchored shopping center on SR 56.

Built-to-rent single-family homes have become one of the hottest sectors of post-pandemic real estate. In the Tampa Bay area, both entrepreneurial and institutional developers are scouting for sites to build these types of communities, which typically offer the same amenities as built-to-own communities or multifamily complexes. While single-family rentals have been a popular investment for decades, until the last decade, the properties were owned by mom-and-pop investors. With centralized, professional property management, single-family communities are much more efficient to manage than one-off rental properties.

“We see a good future for these build-to-rent communities throughout the region given the growth Florida is experiencing,” Bill Mumford, senior director of acquisitions and development, told the Business Journal. “They provide a great option for those looking for flexibility in housing while providing first-class amenities and the lifestyle experience renters are looking for.”

Mumford said GTIS is looking for sites throughout the Tampa metro area, as far south as Sarasota. The communities will have 200 to 300 units, he said, and the developer is looking for properties that would allow it to target multiple demographics. At River Landing, Mumford said GTIS envisions its target demographic as empty nesters and retirees as well as young families.

“We are excited about this opportunity to expand our existing BTR platform in the Tampa MSA — a market we know well and have been investing in for over a decade,” Rob Vahradian, partner at GTIS, said in a statement. “We have been actively investing in Tampa across master plan development and homebuilding projects and think that BTR complements those strategies.