The year 2022 turned out to be extremely profitable for the commercial property market in the Tampa Bay area. 20 largest transactions alone brought the county a total of over $2 billion.
Active in-country migration, a rapid rent growth, and a healthy labor market made this part of Florida a juicy deal for investors looking for profit. Apartments and multi-family houses sold like hot cakes.
For instance, Novel Midtown, a project with 390 residences, was purchased for $236.5 million by CBRE Investment Management only a year after its formal opening. The residential complex offers 1, 2, and 3-bedroom apartments, as well as a seawater pool, co-working spaces, and a yoga studio.
Spanning 52,600 sq m, the Sirata Beach Resort with 382 rooms was sold to Columbia Sussex, a hospitality operator, for $207 million, which broke the previous record of the hotel value in Pinellas County ($202.6 million for the DonCesar Hotel in 2017).
Nine15, a high-rise 23-storey building with 362 luxurious apartments, went to a limited liability company owned by Goldman Sachs for $184 million. Residents can choose between studios and 1 or 2-bedroom apartments here.
In the first half of the year, the market was particularly active. Zach Nolan, Managing Director at JLL Capital Markets, noted that the sales reached a historic high in 2021 but the current year has almost broken that record. By the third quarter, however, the market cooled down a little. Mr. Nolan believes the reason to be concerns about inflation and growing interest rates, which created uncertainty in the investment market.
Despite the smaller amount of transactions in general, buyers are still ready to shell out considerable amounts for first-rate properties in densely populated downtown parts of the city.