Year-old St. Pete multifamily development lists for $110 million 

A 330-unit multifamily development in St. Petersburg has hit the market less than a year after it opened. 

Potential buyers recently began receiving advertisements for the Lake Maggiore Apartments from commercial real estate and property investment firm JLL. St. Petersburg-based developer Stoneweg U.S. completed the project in late September 2024.

Frank Carriera, senior managing director for JLL, said his company is “shooting for $110 million.” Stoneweg still owns the 14.6-acre property at 825 32nd Ave. S. 

“It’s pretty typical for a lot of multifamily developers to build and stabilize and sell,” Carriera told the Catalyst. “Although that wasn’t the original plan with them (Stoneweg) on this one.” 

Stoneweg purchased the property, which once featured a mobile home park, for $6.4 million in 2021. The company broke ground on the mixed-income Lake Maggiore Apartments in May 2022. 

The community consists of seven garden-style, three and four-story buildings with, according to an emailed advertisement, 330 “luxury apartment units” that average 926 square feet. Those are 79% occupied and 82% leased. 

Carriera was unsure of the project’s cost. Stoneweg secured a $50 million construction loan in September 2022. 

Carriera said the development firm recently decided to “look at” the Lake Maggiore Apartments “as more of a merchant-build opportunity that ended up getting them to a number we believe they would want to exit, what makes sense for them and their investors.” 

The gated community offers 316 one and two-bedroom apartments and 14 two or three-bedroom townhomes with garages. Stoneweg allocated 66 units (20%) for households earning between 80% and 120% of the area median income. 

JLL’s advertisement states that the average market rent is $2,431, or $2.60 per square foot. The smallest one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment is 620 square feet and has a $1,685 monthly rent.

Two three-bedroom townhomes encompassing 2,416 square feet are available for $3,920. Carriera said the workforce housing component “doesn’t really” affect the sales process, and the buyer will benefit from Live Local Act tax incentives. 

The mixed-income development has 316 apartments and 14 townhomes.

The Lake Maggiore Apartments are in a historically underserved area of South St. Petersburg. City officials offered workforce housing density bonuses that Carriera said would remain with the property “in perpetuity.” 

Carriera said JLL has already received interest from “every type of buyer.” Those include private and institutional investors, public and private real estate investment trusts, and “even some insurance companies.” 

“We’re going to run a 30-day process and see where the market prices the deal,” Carriera explained. “Then, assuming we’re in the ballpark of where the seller wants to be, we’ll pick a horse and execute a purchase contract with the buyer.” 

He said South St. Pete is one of the few places in Pinellas County, the most densely populated county in Florida, that could accommodate an over-300-unit project. Carriera noted monthly rents are about $800 less than those found downtown, roughly four miles north. 

Amenities at the Lake Maggiore Apartments include a swimming pool, granite countertops, energy-efficient stainless steel appliances, a fitness center, a dog park and lakefront views. The net-zero emissions solar-powered clubhouse earned a Green Globes Certification for environmental sustainability. 

Desiree Sims, owner of Peas & Loves Edible Gardening, partnered with Stoneweg to bring her urban agriculture initiative to life at the complex. She previously credited the firm for making sustainability “part of their core.” 

Carriera said the garden would stay, “assuming the buyer wants to keep it there.” It could move to another area “because it is a very big space that could allow for other stuff to be added to the property, versus it just being a massive garden.” 

Stoneweg owns an adjacent five or six-acre parcel that a buyer could purchase for an additional cost. JLL is marketing both properties. 

The beleaguered Coquina Key Plaza at 4350 6th Street S. is less than 1.5 miles from the Lake Maggiore Apartments. Stoneweg began demolishing the strip mall in August 2024 and plans to build 456 apartments with retail space on the 14.5-acre site. 

Carriera said the Coquina Key project is “still in the works; they’re still planning to develop it. I’m not sure if one sort of hinges on the other. I don’t think it does, personally, but I’m sure it helps … in capitalizing the deal, especially with this use case down the street.” 

An advertisement highlighting the net-zero emissions clubhouse.