Boca Raton developer buys land in downtown Tampa's Encore for market-rate apartments
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 12, 2023

A Florida-based multifamily developer is moving forward with a market-rate project in downtown Tampa's Encore district.

Mill Creek Residential, based in Boca Raton, has closed on Lot 8 in the Encore district for $8.6 million, according to Hillsborough County property records. The developer secured a $77 million mortgage from Pacific Life Insurance Co., property records show.

The seller was the Tampa Housing Authority. Encore is a master-planned community developed in a public-private partnership between Tampa Housing Authority and Banc of America Community Redevelopment Corp. It includes both affordable and market-rate residential units.

The Encore district spans 40 acres and is just north of downtown's Channel and central business districts.

The site is 1.95 acres, and Mill Creek plans to build a 304-unit, eight-story apartment building with structured parking and amenities, according to plans filed with the city.

The project will be built under Mill Creek's Modera banner and be known as Modera Encore, according to city building documents. The developer previously built Modera Tampa near the David A. Straz Jr. Center for Performing Arts. It sold that project to a new owner before wrapping up construction in 2022. It is also building Modera St. Petersburg near Tropicana Field.

The sale is the latest in a string of transactions within Encore. Leroy Moore, chief operating officer of THA, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal in late 2022 that all of the district's remaining lots were under contract to be sold and that he anticipates the district will be fully built out by 2025. Tampa philanthropist and real estate developer Dr. Kiran Patel has since closed on one of the lots, as has Miami-based L&D, which is planning a $200 million mixed-use project there.