Florida Construction News staff writer
RangeWater Real Estate and Nuveen Real Estate are breaking ground on a new 288-unit residential community in Wesley Chapel near Tampa.
The development, known as Tortola, will include three-story, garden-style buildings with amenities including a dog park, car wash, walking trails and open-air greenspace. The new community, located between Tampa and Zephyrhills in Pasco County, will offer one, two and three-bedroom apartments.
We’re committed to keeping our apartment homes affordable while offering high-end amenities,” said Anthony Everett, RangeWater’s director of development for Central Florida.
“Tampa demands more accessible housing to serve a wider demographic, and that is consistent with our philosophy of building more moderately priced housing with luxury, Class A finishes. Tortola will deliver just that.”
RangeWater is expected to break ground immediately and the first units will be completed by late summer 2023.
“Nuveen is excited about starting a development relationship with RangeWater in the Tampa metro area,” said Carlos Burneo, U.S. Housing Development Head at Nuveen. “The Tortola development is a perfect fit for expanding our middle-income rental housing strategy in a growth market like Wesley Chapel. We continue looking for similar housing investment opportunities in the U.S.”
The state’s red-hot housing market has strained available housing and Tortola will be the first ground-up community in Florida to be built by RangeWater’s newly launched in-house construction division, led by Alp Kirmizioglu.
“We’re proud of our team for being diligent and resourceful, finding rare development opportunities like this to expand our footprint in Florida,” said RangeWater Chairman & CEO Steven Shores. “In tandem, we’re excited our in-house construction division will build its first ground-up construction community in the state of Florida. Tortola will be the first of many neighborhoods the RangeWater team develops, builds, and manages for the benefit of those in the Southeast and Mountain West.”
The area is a growing employment center with Amazon scheduled to open a new fulfillment center later this year.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg region also has a strong tech presence, ranging from Fisher Investments and Cisco to HDR and ProCore Technologies, among others, all served by three major Interstate highways.