Investor buys two Clearwater hotels, transforming them into apartments

A Mexico City investment company has bought two Tampa bay hotels and intends to transform them into apartment complexes.

The company is EPC Promecap Multifamily Partners, a joint venture between Miami-based Eagle Property Capital Investments and Promecap, a Mexico City-based private equity firm.

The company did not disclose how much it paid for the property, and Pinellas County property records had not been updated with the sales information as of May 4. Nor did the company say what would happen to the employees working at each of the hotels.

The hotels are the 95-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott at 13200 49th St. N. and the 88-room Residence Inn at 5050 Ulmerton Road. Both are within a couple miles of St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport.

The two properties, connected at the rear of one and on north end of the other, are on 11.9 acres and have a total of 14 three-story buildings and 209 parking spots.

According to EPC Promecap, about 70% of rooms will become studio apartments and efficiencies. The rest will be one- and two-bedroom apartments. Among the expected renovations are updates to amenities and landscaping to get the properties up to multifamily standards as well as renovating the interiors and installing about 30 carports.

In all, there will be 183 units ranging in size from 500 square feet to 850 square feet. The complex will be called Pelican Lake Apartments.  

Eagle Property has a portfolio of more than 6,600 apartment units, mostly in Texas and Florida, including 840 units in Tampa Bay.

Rodrigo Conesa, managing principal at Eagle Property, says in the press release announcing the purchase that the company saw a “rare opportunity to expand our footprint in the Tampa market by taking two centrally located extended stay hotels and transforming them into much-needed workforce housing.”