Maryland buyer pays $72M for housing near Florida Gulf Coast University

Naples, Fort Myers and Charlotte

Capreit, a Maryland multifamily property operator, has bought a student housing community near Florida Gulf Coast University for $72.3 million. The property is at 19401 Skidmore Way in Fort Myers. It was previously owned by Coastal Ridge Real Estate in Ohio which, according to Lee County property records, paid $44 million for it in 2018. JBM Institutional Multifamily Advisors, which brokered the sale, says the 200-unit, 800-bed, three-story Coastal Village was built in 2004 and sits on 21.29 acres. It is a mile from FGCU and one of three student housing communities serving the university. The purchase, Capreit says, is the company’s first entry into student housing. Andrew Kadish, Capreit’s CEO, says the company sees it as an opportunity because of it “relatively consistent and reliable demand in the student housing sector, combined with our desire to secure steady returns and significant capital appreciation.” Capreit, which has no affiliation with a similarly named real estate investment trust in Toronto, was founded in 1993. It owns and manages more than $5 billion in multifamily assets. According to its website it has developed or bought 43,000 units. 

Alico Inc. in Fort Myers, which announced earlier this year that it was exiting the citrus business, has submitted an application for a residential development on land it owns. The plans are for the first of two villages in what eventually will be a 3,000-acre-master-planned community. What Alico is planning for the property is the development of two 1,500-acre mixed-use villages — Corkscrew Grove East Village and Corkscrew Grove West Village — “that will create a new residential and commercial hub near the intersection of Collier, Lee and Hendry counties.” The initial application, which Alico says will undergo a comprehensive review by local, state and federal agencies, is for Corkscrew Grove East Village. The company plans to begin construction by 2028 or 2029 following the completion of all required permits. Alico announced Jan. 6 that it was shutting down its citrus operation after this year’s harvest citing what it called changing economic and environmental realities that had led to a 73% decline in production over the past decade. The company said at the time that the move away from citrus allows it to “pursue commercial and residential development opportunities.” The company says it owns approximately 53,371 acres across eight counties in the state, as well as approximately 48,700 acres of oil, gas and mineral rights.

Tampa, St. Petersburg, Pasco and Polk

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American Integrity Insurance has leased 75,000 square feet of space in Tampa and will move its headquarters there next year. The new space is in Bayport Plaza in the city’s Westshore business district. Stream Realty Partners, the commercial real estate firm that represented the local insurer in the lease negotiations, says the company will occupy three floors in the building and has secured building-top signage. Terms of the lease were not disclosed. Bayport Plaza is an 11-story, 264,718-square-foot building at 3000 Bayport Dr. CBRE, the firm tasked with leasing the space, says with American Integrity as a tenant the building’s occupancy jumps to 85%. A CBRE spokesperson says in an email that negotiations are underway with other potential tenants “with the intent to bring the building to 95% occupancy soon.” American Integrity’s current, smaller, headquarters is on Bay Center Drive in Tampa’s Rocky Point neighborhood. Stream’s Gary Godsey and CBRE’s Barry Hanerfeld and KC Tenukas handled the negotiations.

A 304-unit apartment complex in Pinellas County has sold for $42.25 million and will be converted into affordable housing. The community, Oasis at Bayside, is at 305 Glades Circle just off of Ulmerton Road in Largo. The buyer was a joint venture between Washington, D.C.-based Gravel Road Partners and Utah-based Bridge Investment Group. According to a statement from Berkadia, which represented the owners, the deal was structured as a public-private partnership between the new owners, the county and the Housing Finance Authority of Pinellas County to make 85% percent of the property available to tenants earning between 50% and 80% of the Area Median Income. Oasis is currently 94% occupied and a spokesperson for Berkadia did not answer a question about what happens to existing tenants who don’t meet the income criteria. The property was built in 1974 includes one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 650 square feet to 1,100 square feet. It includes both partially and fully renovated units.

Sarasota and Manatee

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Silver Sky Global Capital, the development company behind the new Bath + Racquet Residences & Club in Sarasota, has taken out a $79 million construction loan for the project. The floating rate loan was issued by Scale Lending and is for 30 months with two six-month extension options. The financing will go toward the construction of the project on the site of the former Bath & Racquet Club at 2170 Robinhood St., which closed in 2021. The property is behind a Trader Joe’s and just south of Bee Ridge Road and U.S. Scale Lending, in a statement announcing the financing, says construction is underway on the project and that the majority of the 256 residences have been pre-sold. That includes all 33 one-bedroom units. The residential portion of the project includes one-, two- and three-bedroom condo units over a four-story building; 60,000 square feet of ground floor commercial, recreational and office space; 21,700 square feet of additional commercial space; and a 2-acre park. There will also be a 43,500-square-foot private club “to reinvigorate the heritage and positioning of the original Sarasota Bath & Racquet Club built in 1969.” 

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