Tampa developer sees opportunity in luxury townhouses
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 18, 2022

Tampa developer Michael Mincberg is moving forward with two luxury townhouse projects that he says fill a need in Tampa's residential real estate market.

Mincberg, founder of Sight Development, plans to break ground on two infill projects in the next two months: the second phase of Shore House, which is off Gandy Boulevard, and Canvas GWX near the forthcoming Gas Worx project in Ybor City. The second phase of Shore House includes 16 townhouses priced from the $800,000s and one single-family estate. Canvas GWX will have 40 units in the first phase and 39 in the second, priced from the $700,000s.

Both developments are joint ventures with Tampa-based Shepard Capital Partners. Shore House will break ground in December; Canvas GWX will begin construction in January.

Canvas and Shore House are two brands of townhouses that Sight wants to grow. There is another Canvas project in St. Petersburg: Canvas Warehouse Arts District, which has 10 units and is under construction, priced from the $600,000s. The Shore House brand is for developments near the water, Mincberg said.

Canvas GWX, he said, is particularly needed in downtown Tampa, where would-be homeowners have almost no options for fee-simple properties. (In fee simple properties, like townhouses, property owners own the land beneath the home. Condo owners own their individual units but not the land underneath them.)

He said he began assembling the Canvas GWX site when plans for Gas Worx, a $500 million mixed-use development between downtown and the Channel district, started to gain momentum in 2021. He paid $2 million for just over 1 acre previously owned by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay Inc. in 2021; in April, he paid over $3.5 million for 1.43 acres owned by GTE Financial.

"Even without Gas Worx being built, it's a great location," Mincberg said. "It's not very walkable yet, but it will be once Gas Worx is there."