Another multifamily complex sells near university, brings $43.2 million

TAMPA — If it’s a day that ends with Y, it must mean another area apartment complex sold.

This time it’s the Campus Palms in Tampa, a student housing community just east of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard between Fowler and Fletcher Avenues, a couple of blocks from the University of South Florida.

The 230-unit, 570-bed community sold for $43.2 million to Doylestown, Pennsylvania-based Trinity Property Group and College Town Communities, a company that manages student housing nationwide, according to a statement announcing the sale. Trinity Property Group has a regional headquarters in Lakewood Ranch. 

The property includes two pools, fitness center and 24-hour study lounge as well as access to shuttles to and from campus. The units, which are leased by the bedroom, are furnished and include washers and dryers.

Campus Palms was completely renovated in 2015, transforming from a traditional rental community to student housing.

This is the third apartment complex near USF to sell in the past couple of months. In September, New York-based NorthEnd Equities announced it bought Boardwalk at Morris Bridge for $31.3 million. The 146-unit complex was built in 2001 and sits at 8800 Boardwalk Trail Drive, about four miles from USF’s Tampa campus. And in August, the St. Moritz Apartments, a 168-unit complex on Heritage Club Drive made up of townhouse units about a mile from the campus, sold to TG Realty in Brooklyn for $26.75 million.

These properties, which are among dozens near the university, are popular for investors looking to cash in on USF’s status as one of the fastest rising public universities in the country. U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Colleges ranking named USF one of the top 50 public universities in the country for the third straight year. It ranked 46 among public universities.

Darron Kattan, managing director of Franklin Street, the Tampa commercial real estate company that brokered the sale, says in a statement announcing the sale that USF’s rising profile make apartment properties near it attractive. The recognition puts the property “in a very favorable position for continued rent growth and high occupancies.”

The Campus Palms deal continues a trend of large multifamily developments changing hands in high-dollar transactions not just near the university but across the region. To name just a small few, a Chicago developer recently spent $112 million on two properites in Clearwater and a Miami developer bought two Fort Myers residential towers in deals totaling $125 million.