Miami's Related Group Moves Forward with Luxury Apartments on West River Waterfront
Ashley Gurbal Kritzer - Real Estate Editor, Tampa Bay Business Journal | Nov 3, 2022
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A Miami developer will break ground on luxury apartments on the West Tampa waterfront by year's end.
Related Group confirmed to the Tampa Bay Business Journal that it is moving forward with the construction of Manor West River, a 360-unit, eight-story market-rate apartment complex across North Boulevard from Blake High School.
Chris Hernandez, development manager for Related, told the Business Journal that the developer has hired Balfour Beatty plc as the general contractor. Manor West River will feature traditional, southern-style architecture, Hernandez said, and include a rooftop deck with northern views of the Hillsborough River.
The developer paid $4.5 million for a site bound by Spruce Street to the north, North Boulevard to the east, Chestnut Street to the south and Delaware Avenue to the west, according to Hillsborough County property records. The baseball fields that are directly north of the site will remain.
The site is part of the West River district. Related, in a joint venture with The Urban Development Group, was selected as the master developer of the district in 2016. It is a $350 million project, spanning nearly 200 acres - north of Interstate 275, south of Columbus Drive and west from Hillsborough River to Rome Avenue. At completion, it will include 1,636 mixed-income residential units and more than 177,000 square feet of commercial space.
The seller was the Tampa Housing Authority, and the sale closed on Oct. 26, according to Hillsborough County property records. PNC Bank NA provided an $85.7 million construction loan for the project.
The Manor West River transaction is unrelated to plans to build a Publix Super Markets Inc. in the West River district, Hernandez said.
Manor is one of Related's luxury apartment brands; it built and sold Manor Riverwalk, now known as Arabelle Riverwalk, on the west bank of the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa. In late 2021, Related sold Manor Riverwalk for $225 million or $562,500 per door - the first time a market-rate apartment complex in Tampa Bay sold for more than a half-million dollars per unit.
Besides West River, Related has also been selected as the master developer of Rome Yard, 18 acres of city-owned land immediately west of the Hillsborough River, east of Rome Avenue, south of Columbus Drive and north of Spruce Street.
It is also under construction on the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Tampa, on Bayshore Boulevard and in the planning stages of the Riverfront district, where it is planning more than 1,000 residential units on the west bank of the Hillsborough River near WFLA's studio in downtown Tampa.
Related also plans to acquire a portion of a synagogue's property on Bayshore Boulevard, where it plans to build a boutique residential tower.
