Places This Week: Clearwater apartments sell for $76M, pharma company buys warehouse space

A real estate firm with a growing presence in Tampa Bay scoops up two apartment complexes for $76 million. A large parking garage at Clearwater Beach anchored by retail changes hands. A California-based biopharmaceutical company that specializes in allergy treatments purchases warehouse/office space. The owner of clubs in Ybor City purchases a building that houses a medical marijuana distributor. These are among the largest deals to take place this week. 

Here’s this week’s roundup of local real estate deals: 

Greystar scoops up two apartment complexes for a combined $76 million

GEP X, an entity tied to Charleston-based Greystar real estate partners, had purchased two Clearwater apartment complexes for a combined $76 million. 

Greystar, which has a large presence in Tampa Bay, buys student housing and apartments internationally. 

The Park At Gibraltar apartments at 2550 Stag Run Blvd. Realtor.com.

The group purchased the 220,454-square-foot, Cameron Lakes LLC-owned Park at Gibraltar apartments at 2550 Stag Run Blvd. 

The second property purchased was the 179,081-square-foot Park at Elland apartments at 2481 NE Coachman Road, which was owned by Coachman Crossings LLC. 

The Park at Elland apartments at 2481 NE Coachman Road, Clearwater. Realtor.com.

The acquisition and name change of the apartments are already reflected in Greystar’s portfolio and online. The Park at Elland is now called Avana Coachman and the Park and Gibraltar is now called Avana Lakeview. 

Greystar purchased the two-story, 207-unit Park at Gibraltar apartments for $38.4 million.  

It acquired the two-story, 218-unit Park and Elland apartments for $37.6 million. 

Greystar took out a $24.96 million mortgage and an additional $24.44 million mortgage from Berkeley Point Capital LLC for the purchases.   

Greystar currently owns the Villas at Gateway Apartments in Pinellas Park, the Vue at Belleair in Clearwater, the NoHo Flats in Tampa, the 2 Bayshore Luxury Waterfront Apartments in Tampa and other properties, according to its portfolio. 

North Beach Parking Plaza sells

The North Beach Parking Plaza in Clearwater Beach is under new ownership. 

Safety Harbor-based real estate firm Paradise Venture sold the plaza to the Clearwater-based SCI Pelican Walk entity in a $15.7 million deal.

The North Beach Parking Plaza, at 490 Poinsettia Ave. is a covered parking garage with over 700 parking spaces. It has roughly 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail that’s anchored by the Another Broken Egg Cafe and Alati.  

The North Beach Parking Plaza in Clearwater Beach. Google Maps.

The other tenants include the Clearwater Wine Bar and Noire Nail Bar. 

According to the plaza’s website, there is still available retail space for lease. 

The SCI entity took out a $12.3 million mortgage from Valley National Bank for the purchase. 

Owner of The Castle buys Clearwater building used for medical marijuana distributor 

Beach Office Holdings I LLC has sold its building in Clearwater where medical marijuana distributor Trulieve is located.

The buying entity, K TEK TRS FLA LLC which is tied to Alan Kahana, purchased the 2,330-square-foot building at 645 Bayway Blvd. in a roughly $2.1 million deal. 

Kahana owns the Boneyard Restaurant, nightclubs such as the Czar and The Castle, as well as the Fuma Bella and Dirty Shame Pub in Tampa. He also operates several parking lots in Tampa, according to property records. 

Nestle-owned health care company buys space in ICOT center 

A health care company specializing in developing treatments for food allergies has purchased additional space inside the Rubin ICOT Center in Largo. 

Brisbane, California-based Autoimmune Therapeutics Inc., a Nestlé Health Science Company, purchased the 42,688-square-foot center at 5733 Myerlake Circle for $4.5 million from St.Pete-based real estate firm K. Barger Realty LLC. 

The Rubin ICOT Center. GoogleMaps.

The new purchase is part of a growing expansion within Aimmune Therapeutics. 

In 2017, CoreRx and Aimmune Therapeutics announced their expansion in Myerlake. CoreRx is a contract development and manufacturing organization for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and Aimmune is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops treatments for food allergies. Jointly, the companies have increased manufacturing operations at CoreRx’s ICOT Center campus. 

This expansion in 2017 included 20,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space in the ICOT campus. 

“These expansions continue to showcase the Tampa region’s expertise in high technology manufacturing on a national and global level,”  Todd Daviau, President and CEO of CoreRx, said in a press release about the previous expansion. “And, we will continue to expand our capabilities to meet the growing demands of our clients.”

Times sells printing plant 

The Tampa Bay Times has sold its shuttered St. Petersburg printing plant for $21 million. The company will use the proceeds to pay off its debt to investors, the St. Pete Catalyst reported earlier this week. 

Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund known for scooping up newspapers, purchased the 27-acre property at 1301 N 34th St. through its real estate arm, Twenty Lake Holdings, the Times announced. 

Tampa Bay Times production facility (Google maps)

The Times used the St. Pete plant for over 60 years, until it was decided to close the production facility to outsource printing operations in Lakeland in a facility owned by publishing giant Gannett Co. The Times closed the plant earlier this year, resulting in about 150 job losses. At the same time, the newspaper said it was planning to sell the plant.

The Times will lease back part of the land for use as a distribution center. 

The Times previously said the proceeds from a sale would be used to pay off the $15.3 million the Times owes to FBN Partners, a group of prominent business leaders in St. Petersburg and Tampa. 

CubeSmart storage facility in St. Pete is sold  

The 84,155-square-foot CubeSmart storage building at 1855 32nd Street in St. Pete sold for $13.6 million. 

The building, which was built in 2019, was sold to an entity called NSP II ST PETE DST.

The CubeSmart property is next to a Sam’s Club. 

Former St. Pete mayor’s home sells

The home of late St. Petersburg Mayor Randolph Wedding has sold. 

The Snell Isle estate at 990 31st Ave NE in St. Pete sold for $2.5 million, which was the asking price. 

990 31st Ave NE, St. Pete. Zillow.

The St. Pete Catalyst previously reported the sale was pending. 

It was sold to Brian and Julie Wolfstein. 

The 5,878-square-foot home was built in 1968.  

The home, the design of which was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, has five bedrooms and four-and-a-half baths and backs up to a canal. 

The home boasts floor-to-ceiling windows and sits on a half-acre with a lush landscape, a pool and an outdoor kitchen.

990 31st Ave. NE, St. Pete. Zillow.

Wedding, who passed away in 2012, served as mayor from 1973 to 1975 and helped persuade the state to build Interstate 375 and 175 and connect them into downtown.

He was also known by his architecture firm, which designed the original Busch Gardens theme park.