Kolter Urban begins pair of projects

Developer Kolter Urban has begun construction on a pair of planned condominium towers in Tampa and St. Petersburg that will together contain 262 units.

The roughly $220 million in projects begins work at a time when many analysts are questioning the viability of urban residential towers because of COVID-19.

“We believe the fundamentals in these markets remains the same, despite the virus,” says Brian Van Slyke, regional president for Florida’s West Coast for Kolter Urban, a division of Delray Beach-based Kolter Group.

“There’s been great sales activity, and we believe long-term demand for downtown living in Florida will remain strong,” Slyke says. “We remain pretty confident in the West Coast of Florida.”

Kolter’s Saltaire project, in St. Petersburg, will rise 35 floors and contain 192 units priced at $800,000 and up. Completion is anticipated in second quarter of 2023, Van Slyke says.

To date, Kolter — the developer of the 41-story One St. Petersburg and 18-story Vue Sarasota Bay condo towers — has received contracts on roughly 50 units valued in excess of $70 million.

In Tampa, Kolter is building Hyde Park House, a 22-story tower designed to contain 70 units on Bayshore Boulevard priced from $900,000. The company expects to complete the building during the third quarter of 2022. To date, more than 20 of its units have been committed, with contracts valued at more than $50 million.

Van Slyke says many of the two projects’ buyers are coming from densely populated Northeast states.

Both Tampa Bay area projects are being designed by SB Architects and marketed by Smith & Associates Real Estate.

In addition, Kolter also is building a Ritz-Carlton Residences condo tower in Sarasota. Of the 73 luxury units there, only five remain uncommitted, Van Slyke says. Completion is anticipated late this year.