Tampa Bay apartment market continues to flourish

Fueled by gains in affluent population and job growth, Tampa Bay multifamily rental investment sales have mushroomed over the past three years — with few signs of abating.

Earlier this month, Miami-based Related Group perpetuated the trend when it sold its 21-story Icon Harbour Island luxury complex for a record $131.5 million to Olympus Property, of Fort Worth, Texas.

The 340-unit project, at 301 Harbour Place Drive, sold for nearly $387,000 per door — among the highest per-unit prices in the history of the region.

The renamed Olympus Harbour Island, with amenities ranging from a wine cellar to an open fitness center and a private dining room to an “expansive” swimming pool, was 93% occupied at the time of the sale.

The property, completed in 2017, also is adjacent to Water Street Tampa, a $3 billion neighborhood being developed around Amalie Arena by Strategic Property Partners.

“The quality and location of the property make it one of the premier assts in the Southeastern United States,” says Newmark Knight Frank Vice Chairman Patrick Dufour, who together with the commercial real estate brokerage firm’s Richard Donnellan and Ryan Crowley negotiated on behalf of Related Group.

“Icon Harbour Island offered a generational investment opportunity to acquire a best-in-class multifamily asset in Tampa’s most prestigious neighborhood.”

Dufour adds that Tampa has ranked third in U.S. rent growth and is the sixth-fastest growing metropolitan statistical area in the country, among the Top 20 metro areas.

The Icon Harbour Island sale comes on the heels of a pair of other high-profile apartment trades that also rank among the largest multifamily sales in history.

In September, Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual bought the 21-story 500 Harbour Island multifamily rental tower for $103.45 million. With 235 units, that two-year-old property sold for a record $440,000 per door.

That deal also came as Dayton, Ohio-based Connor Group acquired the 394-unit Novel Riverwalk complex, at 109 W. Fortune St., for $123 million.

But while the Harbour Island and Riverwalk deals are significant and record-setting, they are hardly the only nine-figure trades involving area apartments.

Last year, for instance, Houston-based Camden Property Trust bought the 18-story AER Apartments in downtown St. Petersburg for $126.3 million. Completed in 2017 at 330 Third St. South, the property contains 358 units, ground-floor retail space and an adjacent five-level parking garage.

And in 2017, Boston-based Northland Investment Corp., spent $112.4 million to acquire the 35-story Element multifamily tower downtown, at 808 N. Franklin St. Completed in 2009, Element contains 359 units.