Developers bringing small, furnished apartments to St. Pete/Tampa say they’ve found ‘the right formula’
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 9, 2023

The developers building small, furnished apartments near Water Street Tampa and St. Petersburg’s Grand Central district believe the formula behind their projects will set them up for success as the market shifts.

Christopher Bicho of Landings Real Estate Group and Craig Bazarsky of BendinRoad Development LLC are planning to build 97 units in an eight-story building at 1663 First Ave. S in St. Pete. The building will not have any parking for vehicles and is estimated to cost $25 million. The team’s Tampa project is a seven-story building with 104 units at 701 E. Whiting St.

“You need a differentiator,” Bicho said. “Everyone is building apartments with studios, one, two and three bedrooms, so we’re really homing in on an affordable product, even though it’s a luxury product.”

Bicho said the job profiles seem to differ from Tampa to St. Pete. Their research has found that Tampa lends itself to a slightly higher-income demographic. He said there are residents in Water Street paying $10,000-plus a month for a three-bedroom, and one-bedroom apartments are approximately $3,000 a month. Their project will be around $2,500 to $2,600 a month.

They expect to start pricing slightly under that — more than likely starting at $2,200 a month — in St. Pete with finishes that are “luxury” rather than “uber luxury” as they intend to do in Tampa.

Bicho said the developers believe that fully furnished apartments in neighborhoods where people can walk or bike to work, grocery stores and a plethora of cafes and restaurants will have major appeal as the economy shifts. He said it’s a “calculated gamble,” and they’ve done a lot of market research and believe the demand for these types of units is untapped.

“I really believe in 10 years, people are going to say St. Pete is one of the top five places to live in the country because of the unique lifestyle it offers,” Bicho said. “A certain type of person is really going to be willing to pay to live where they work and have a lifestyle they can’t get other places.”

With people migrating to the Tampa Bay region from out of state, not having to buy furniture or pay to move has appeal — and it will keep the building in better condition. Bicho said there is a growing number of people who have fewer things and don’t need a vehicle.

The downside is it will make moving out just as convenient as moving in. While they’ll be tracking resident retention, they said they have faith they’ve located their “target market.”

“We think we’ve got the right formula, and we’re trying to repeat it in St. Pete,” Bicho said. “We think it’s probably even more popular because of the demographic there versus Water Street.”

Bazarsky said both sites were selected because of their proximity to evolving neighborhoods. Water Street has become a “much more walkable area of downtown,” and St. Pete has a similar walkable street grid, especially near the Edge and Grand Central districts.

The St. Pete site directly abuts the upcoming Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment. The addition of the SunRunner stops — one of which is less than a third of a mile from the project — means there is a growing “pedestrian-friendly environment.”

The St. Pete amenity package includes a pool, fitness center, coworking space, lobby and Amazon package area. They'll also offer full-size refrigerators, which is a rarity in fully furnished small apartments. The building also has three outdoor common areas for tenants: a 1,000-square-foot ground-floor outdoor space, a fifth-floor rooftop pool in a 2,000-square-foot outdoor space and a separate 500-square-foot outdoor space overlooking Tropicana Field.

“There’s such a huge migration coming to this specific area from all over the country, New York, California the Midwest that you really can’t build housing fast enough,” Bicho said. “People need different price points, and they want to feel they have as much space as possible without having to sacrifice a lot.

"When you compare our prices to some of the surrounding areas you realize you’re sacrificing maybe 18% of space for a third of the total price. The math really starts working in your favor when you look around.”