Westchase apartment complex sells for $35.25 million
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 5, 2014

A Westchase apartment complex has been sold for $35.25 million.

Atlanta-based Centennial Holding company paid $129,000 per unit for Citrus Falls Apartments in a deal that closed Thursday, according to a Hillsborough County deed filed Friday.

The 272-unit complex, which is off of Sheldon Road, was built in 2003. The seller, Chicago-based Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, paid $30.3 million for the property in 2011.

The most recent transaction is still short of a top-of-market price, as Citrus Falls sold for $37.5 million in 2006.

"I think it's probably a good value-add opportunity,” said Byron Moger, executive director in Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc.'s multifamily advisory group in Tampa, "where someone can freshen up unit interiors and spruce up amenities and get a nice return on their investment.”

Investors are in hot pursuit of "value add” apartment properties in Tampa Bay- older buildings that they can buy for less than replacement cost. After interior renovations like new flooring and countertops and upgrading the community amenities, the groups are able to raise the rents, in addition to normal annual rent growth. That dynamic, combined with low interest rates, means some investors are seeing returns upwards of 20 percent.

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.