Developer to build 200-unit green apartment community

BRADENTON — Construction on The Metropolitan, a 200-unit apartment community in Bradenton by developer Pearl Homes, is expected to begin in the second half of 2021.

The Met will be along 14th Street West in Bradenton on the site of the former Manatee Inns. Leasing is scheduled to start in 2022.

The Met will include 180 studios and one-bedroom units ranging from about 600 to 700 square feet. It will also have 20 two-bedroom units that are roughly 1,000 square feet.

The statement from Pearl Homes says the company is bringing a new type of apartment to market that makes green living more affordable, with rents below market rates. Rents are expected to start at just over $1,000 for studios. Amenities and features of the building will aim to reduce tenants' overall cost of living.

Pearl Homes acquired the property in August following a successful bid to the Bradenton Community Redevelopment Agency. The statement also says the project will help set a new standard in the green building industry, projected to carry first-of-its-kind LEED certifications for multifamily, residential development.

Pearl Homes has sustainable and workforce housing projects underway in the Sarasota-Bradenton area and at other locations throughout the region and California. CEO Marshall Gobuty founded the company in 2015. It also developed the LEED-Platinum active adult community Mirabella in west Bradenton. The community prioritized sustainable development on a production scale, earning the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest recognition for sustainability in development.