Bullish on Florida

Bullish on Florida

By Sean Roth

Real Estate Editor

What a difference a year makes. Last year, officials for Corvus International LLC laid out plans for two condominium developments, an upscale single-family home project and two office buildings. Twelve months later, the firm's real estate workload in Southwest Florida has ballooned.

"We have a pretty huge presence in the state now," says Tim Morris, a principal of Corvus. "We have not given up on the rest of the country. (But) we are very committed and bullish on Florida."

The firm, which made much of its money building facilities for the automotive industry, has been forced to look elsewhere, thanks to consolidation in that industry. "Overall production demand (for automobiles) is really fixed - people are holding on to their cars longer than they used to because the quality has really gone up," Morris says.

The firm's principals decided it was a good time to solidify its entry into the Tampa Bay area market.

The Birmingham, Mich., company is building a new corporate headquarters in Sarasota, at the southeast corner of University Parkway and U.S. 41, in the fourth quarter.

While mainly symbolic - most of the firm's 15 local employees work at the Bradenton Financial Center and the other 12 commute from Michigan - the headquarters signals a more prominent phase of the company's Florida operations.

Current Projects

• Positano on the Gulf, developed in conjunction with the Devlin Group and BSG Communities, comprised of 29 estate condominiums directly on the Gulf of Mexico at the site of the former Holiday Inn on Longboat Key.

• Bel Mare at Riviera Dunes, 186 condominium units in three 15-story towers with approximately 100,000 square feet of retail and specialty shops on the 214-acre Riviera Dunes Resort and Yacht Club in Palmetto.

• The Sanctuary, a new 1,190-unit residential development in Palmetto on approximately 211 acres of riverfront property just east of the Bel Mare project.

• The O2 Towers in Tampa's Channelside District, comprised of 410 condominium units in twin 41-story residential towers with more than 100,000 square feet of retail and related specialty shops.

• The Pasco Industrial Park, a 170-acre planned industrial park at Interstate 75 and State Road 52 in Pasco County. The new industrial park will support up to 1.6 million square feet of distribution and warehouse space and should come on line in the third quarter.

• The Wave, a 29-unit loft and retail development on the northwest corner of Fruitville Road and Lemon Avenue in downtown Sarasota.

"Not counting the stuff we have planned for The Sanctuary, we have $1 billion in hard construction planned for the area," Morris said. "This building will let us have a design center."

The new 23,000-square-foot Misner Mediterranean-style headquarters building was part of an expected land swap with USF/New College for property farther north on U.S. 41. Corvus will eventually occupy about 10,000 square feet.

The firm has projects in the Riviera Dunes area of Palmetto, University Parkway and Fruitville Road in Sarasota, Longboat Key, State Road 52 in Pasco County and Tampa's Channelside district.

The firm's largest local project is the twin 41-story condominium towers in Tampa known as the O2 Towers, which will feature 410 units.

"It has really been something to consider dealing with 30 months of construction per tower," Morris says. "Compounded with that we have seen a 30% increase in the cost of construction. Recently, we had to raise our budget for the project by $50 million just to cover the steady creep in prices that has already started to occur."

Initially a developer of condominiums in the waterfront Riviera Dunes area and some supporting retail, Corvus has taken on more development, including buying more retail land and about 211 acres east of the existing condominium project for a 1,190-unit residential and retail project called The Sanctuary.

"It's going to have a real Venetian flair," he says. "It looks like John Cannon and Lee Wetherington have agreed to take a couple hundred of the single-family lots. M. Pete McNabb has inquired about the mid-rise product. We may look at doing the towers ourselves or we may sell it."

Morris expects construction on infrastructure to start in the summer of 2006. The Sanctuary is slated to be a $1 billion development.

"On the about 12.6 acres we purchased next to the civic center (in the main of Riviera Dunes), the highest and best use would be to put a residential project there like we are doing at Bel Mare," he says. "But we really felt we needed some retail there to support the residential that is already there and currently under construction. We have a letter of intent with an upscale grocer to go there. This is an amenity that everyone can enjoy, not just people at Bel Mare."

Corvus is gearing up for its first development in Sarasota, The Wave, at the former Hibbs Farm & Garden Supply site at Lemon Avenue and Fruitville Road. The project is envisioned with retail on the bottom floor and 29 loft units on the upper level. Sales should start by August.

But Corvus has not abandoned its more industrial roots, the company is developing a 170-acre industrial park in Pasco County.

"With Pasco being one the fastest growing counties ... with that amount of growth ... they are definitely going to need the space," he says.

Corvus is also developing residential properties in the suburbs of Chicago. "The further out you go on the rail line you find the demand for housing is still pretty insatiable," he says. "You have farm fields next to 1,500-home subdivisions."

Where the company's main focus for new development?

"We have looked at projects in Jupiter, the Palm Coast and Jekyll Island," he says. "We can go anywhere in the country. But we think this area is really well positioned.

"Home values have risen something like 41%," he adds. "We've got the retirement of the baby boomers. So we are very bullish on the market. The marketplace just continues to grow northward toward areas like Terra Ceia. We are (even) looking at another piece in Palmetto ... an infill site for another 500 to 700 residences."