Developer begins construction of nearly 400-unit apartment complex

CLEARWATER — The apartment boom continues unabated.

Developers have broken ground on a 396-unit apartment project on U.S. 19 in Clearwater. The complex will be on the east side of the highway, about halfway between Gulf to Bay and Countryside Boulevards.

The complex should be completed by the summer of 2023, according to a spokeswoman for the developer, North Carolina-based Aventon Companies. “Unfortunately,” she says in an email, “Aventon cannot share the total cost due to a partnership confidentiality agreement.”

The development is joint venture between Aventon and Maryland real estate investment firm FCP.

The 22-acre development will be made up of 10 garden-style buildings made up of one-, two- and three-bedroom units and will include about 8,000 square feet of amenities, according to a statement from Aventon.

This new complex comes shortly after two others in Clearwater were sold in late August in deals totaling $76 million.

Avana Lakeview at 2250 Stag Run Blvd. sold for $38.4 million. That complex sits on 18.25 acres and is about a mile south of where Aventon is building its complex.  And, about another mile south, Avana Coachman at 2481 N.E. Coachman Rd. sold for $37.6 million.

Both were bought by Greystar Worldwide in South Carolina. The company specializes in investing, developing and managing rental properties.

Just a couple miles north of the Aventon project is another complex that recently sold: Enclave of Northwood. It was part of a $112 million two complex purchase by Chicago developer 29th Street Capital. The second complex in the transaction was Henley Tampa Palms in Tampa.

Aventon Companies has a $1.5 billion portfolio of ground up developments and nearly 6,000 “branded apartment homes” in Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland, according to the statement. The company has four properties in Florida —Jacksonville, Winter Park and two in Orlando.