Development is a family affair for Serenity Capital Management
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 24, 2022

A new developer has entered Tampa's residential real estate market — brothers Ishaan Ambegaokar and Shree Kulkarni, who formed Serenity Capital Management to pursue projects in the Bay region.

Both brothers moved to Tampa — Ambegaokar from Miami, Kulkarni from Cincinnati — to work together after a pilot development project in Orlando. Kulkarni's company, Kulkarni Properties, remains headquartered in Cincinnati.

Serenity's first project in the Tampa Bay market is a built-to-rent project on 10 acres in Riverview. It will include 56 villa-style, duplex homes built specifically as rental units. Serenity is also in the process of rezoning properties in Land O'Lakes and Wesley Chapel to make way for residential developments.

In April, a corporate entity linked to the brothers paid just over $1 million for the 10 acres in Riverview, which is near the intersection of U.S. Highway 301 and Symmes Road. In total, that project represents a $16 million capital investment.

The brothers' business model is making strong cash offers for raw land, Kulkarni said. The brothers have a family office fund they use for equity in their projects; they've discussed a construction loan for the Riverview project with a couple of local banks, but nothing has been finalized.

"Then we put our money to work in getting a raw piece of land entitled," Kulkarni said.

The Riverview project will be the first out of the ground, Ambegaokar said, with site work slated to begin by the end of the year. Vertical construction should be complete by summer 2023. Both brothers said they predict a long runway left in Tampa Bay's residential real estate market, where home prices have soared since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

"It's one of those markets that will continue to grow for the next 20 years," Ambegaokar said.