Places This Week: Madeira developer buys waterfront restaurant; Home Depot to open large equipment hub

A weekly roundup of local real estate deals.

Home Depot prepares to open ROF building in Pinellas Park–a first for Tampa Bay

Home Depot Rental division has purchased land in Pinellas Park where it is now building its first Rental Operations Facility (ROF) in the Tampa Bay market. 

ROFs are large equipment rental hubs. The ROFs act as a base of operations to store and dispatch larger-class equipment to job sites from a centralized location. The ROFs are not open to the public. 

Home Depot has said the large equipment facilities were part of 2019 efforts to streamline its supply chain and delivery operations in response to increasing and evolving customer demands. The company currently has ROFs in the Houston and Nashville markets.  

The 18,000-square-foot ROF project in Pinellas Park will be on 6.55 acres at 7003 114th Ave. N., according to stormwater permits. 

Home Depot is working with the Kimley-Horn engineering consultant group’s team based out of Tampa. 

A source close to the project said the site is still under development. 

The company has previously said it was going to expand its North American ROF footprint with a focus on general tools, trucks, trailers and large equipment.

Apartments near St. Petersburg General Hospital sell

The 88-unit Park House Apartments have sold in a $12.525 million deal. 

Pinebrook Manor sold the apartment community at 3980 64th St. N. to Park House Property De LLC. The entity is tied to Texas-based Taas Investments, a real estate investment firm known for rehabbing multifamily complexes. 

The Park House Apartments on 64th Street N. GoogleMaps.

The 60,416-square-foot apartment complex was built in 1973 and is situated across the street from St. Petersburg General Hospital.

Park House Property De LLC took out a $10.32 million loan from Orec Structured Finance Co. for the purchase. 

The developer behind the Madeira Beach Town Center buys waterfront restaurant property 

Bill Karns, a prominent Treasure Island developer who is behind the Madeira Beach Town Center and works with the Caddy’s Restaurant Group, has purchased a property in Madeira Beach that’s home to a waterfront restaurant. 

Karns, under the entity name Hotel B Investors LLC, purchased the property at 13205 Gulf Blvd. in a $5.55 million deal from Madeira Bay Marina LLC. 

Karns assumed a $5.3 million mortgage from Madeira Bay Marina. 

Mad Beach Fish House. GoogleMaps.

It’s currently the location of the Mad Beach Fish House. There are boat slips located behind the restaurant that appear to have been acquired as part of the sale, according to Pinellas County property records. 

Karns is known for scooping up waterfront real estate. 

Last year, Karns purchased the shuttered Sculley’s Waterfront Restaurant, located along the boardwalk at John’s Pass, and The Hut Bar & Grill from Dag Bros Inc. in a $5 million deal. 

Stoneweg US purchases the WaterView apartments

St. Petersburg-based multifamily real estate group Stoneweg US has purchased the WaterView Echelon City Center apartments in a $100 million deal. 

The 15-story apartment tower at 100 Main St. N. is in the Echelon City Center, a mixed-used development at Carillon Office Park.

A rendering of WaterView at Echelon City Center

The 226-unit apartment complex has 13,400 square feet of ground-floor retail and structured parking.

Echelon, a St. Petersburg-based real estate company, worked with Tampa investment advisory firm Third Lake Partners LLC on the development, their first deal together.

“Waterview is a huge win for the Stoneweg US team in terms of diversification and growth. It’s the first high-rise community in our portfolio, offering sophisticated, Class-A living in one of the most robust markets in terms of relocation and jobs in the U.S.,” Ryan Reyes, chief investment officer for Stoneweg US, said in a release.  

Stoneweg took out a $51.63 million mortgage loan from PNC Bank for the purchase. During the time of the purchase of the Echelon apartments, Stoneweg also purchased two apartment complexes in Louisville, Kentucky via a $230 million deal.

Read more about the deal here. 

Developer readies to break ground on construction for a luxury condo complex  

Andrew Hunsicker, principal at Ash Developers is getting ready to turn dirt for his next project in the Grand Central District.

Hunsicker, who recently completed a mixed-use development at 2641 Central Ave., is developing 2800 Central – a 25,000-square-foot, mixed-use project with 14 condominiums, including two penthouses and two ground-floor commercial spaces. 

A rendering of the large terraces overlooking Central Avenue for the 2800 Central project. Photo: Andrew Hunsicker. 

He expects construction to start in April for the five-story complex and take 12 to 14 months for completion. 

“I love mixed-use development and Grand Central has this live-work community feel,” he said. 

The condo units initially were priced in the $500,000s, with a premium for the corner units. The penthouse units will be larger and were priced in the mid $800,000s when the project was announced a year ago. 

However, the condo units are now in the $600,000 to $700,000 range and the penthouses are now priced at $1.2 million. 

Hunsicker said all of the units have been reserved, but the penthouses and the two commercial spaces are available. 

Buyer of the former Hofbräuhaus building acquires retail building on Central Avenue 

Washington, D.C.-based Wiseguy Pizza operator Nuri Erol has purchased additional property in downtown St. Petersburg. 

The property at 2430 Central Ave. GoogleMaps.

Erol, who purchased the former Hofbräuhaus German restaurant with plans to turn it into a food hall, has purchased a building with retail shops at 2430 Central Ave. 

Erol bought the property from Uptown Flats LLC in a $1.55 million deal. 

The 3,406-square-foot property has two tenants. One tenant is Pieces of a Dream, a store that sells unique jewelry, clothes and art.

Inside the Tubular Tokes shop on Central Avenue. Facebook image.

The second tenant is Tubular Tokes, which operates as a 1980s- themed smoke shop with a “munchie mart” stocked with candies and chips.  

Erol said he bought the property for investment purposes.