Gainesville's Collier Cos. developing Sunset site

BUYER: USF SPE DE LLC (principal: Nathan Collier), Gainesville
SELLER: Square Plaza Associates LLC
PROPERTY: 12708 Bruce B Downs Blvd., Tampa
PRICE: $6.4 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $5.07 million, January 2006
LAW FIRM ON DEED: DLA Piper LLP (US), Los Angles

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
The Collier Cos. purchased the 100-unit Sunset Square Apartments for $6.4 million.

The price equated to $64,000 per unit. That figure is lower than the average price per unit for multifamily space ($70,803) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The Gainesville-based company, which is one of the largest private student housing providers nationwide, purchased the property with plans to demolish the existing development to build on the 5.16-acre site. The existing seven-building two-story apartment complex was constructed in 1965 and 1966.

“We have three properties in Tampa already and we're looking to add to that,” says Andy Hogshead, CEO of The Collier Cos. “We like USF. [This property] is also in the west side with all that medical space: the VA, Moffitt Cancer Center and the medical school. We see it as a market that deserves better housing alternatives.”

The Collier Cos. is still putting its exact plans, but as currently conceived the new development would create a five-story more than $40 million student house rental housing project with a central garage.
Because of a zoning change, Hogshead says, the new ownership can build 183 units on the property. He says that would generate roughly 600 beds.

The company expects to deliver the development in summer 2016.

The Collier Cos. owns about 11,500 apartment units and some 24,000 beds.

Robert Goldfinger, Darron Kattan, Kevin Kelleher and Zach Ames of Franklin Street handled the transaction.