Small, furnished apartments break ground near Water Street in downtown Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 14, 2023

The developer of a midrise apartment building near Water Street Tampa has landed a $17 million construction loan.

Developers Craig Bazarsky of Tampa and Chris Bicho of Newport, Rhode Island-based Landings Real Estate Group said Monday that they are moving forward with a seven-story, 104-unit apartment complex at 701 E. Whiting St. An entity linked to Bicho paid $1.7 million for the quarter-acre parcel in early 2022, according to Hillsborough County property records.

Berkshire Bank, based in Boston, provided a $17 million loan for the project on March 6, according to county property records.

Plans for the project first went public in September 2021. The plans remain unchanged, Bazarsky said: The units will range from 400 to 450 square feet and feature furniture from Ori Inc., a New York company specializing in furniture to maximize small spaces.

The apartment building recently broke ground, Bazarsky said, and the developers anticipate a 17-month construction timeframe. St. Petersburg-based LEMA Construction is the general contractor.

As land prices and rents skyrocket in downtown Tampa, more developers are turning their attention to smaller apartments. Asher, a tower in Water Street, has studios as small as 337 square feet and one-bedroom units as small as 534 square feet. Dr. Kiran Patel, a real estate developer and philanthropist, recently closed on land for micro-unit condominiums in downtown Tampa's Encore district.