TAMPA, FL-Tampa-based Morin Development is trying to revive a development plan hatched several years ago to revitalize the West End Tampa area just west of downtown. An ambitious project, the developer had planned to build 550 apartments, between 60 and 79 townhouses, 340 condominiums and 25,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space.

Today, Morin is looking for a 10% equity partner to build one piece of the redevelopment project, the 306-unit luxury apartment complex to be known as the Fremont. The complex will consist of two mid-rise towers along with a five-story parking garage with a roof-top swimming pool and sundeck which will overlook downtown Tampa and Tampa Bay.

Marcus & Millichap is marketing the development, which will sit on 2.5 acres of land, for $53.5 million as a turnkey project. The developer is looking for a high-net-worth individual, who would put down the 10% equity stake, or $5.35 million in cash, allowing Morin to take out a $48.15-million construction loan, says Casey Babb, senior associate with Marcus & Millichap in Tampa, who is one of the brokers marketing the project. The Fremont is projected by Marcus & Millichap to yield a 20% to 24% levered internal rate of return if there is a seven-year hold. The development cost per unit, based on the projected total cost of $53.5 million for the project, will be nearly $175,000.

The biggest chunk of the West End redevelopment area lies in the North Hyde Park neighborhood, part of which was an old, industrial neighborhood. The entire Tampa West End redevelopment project, much of which has already been assembled and cleared, says Babb, covers nine or 10 city blocks.

Babb says that he is optimistic about the West End redevelopment project for a number of reasons, among them the fact Tampa General Hospital wants to build a rehabilitation hospital and medical office complex at the former site of a Ferman automobile dealership which is “within walking distance,” of the proposed Fremont Apartments, according to a Marcus & Millichap description of the project. 

But the rehabilitation hospital is not likely to be built in the next couple of years, whereas Babb believes that the Fremont can be up and running by 2012 or 2013.

The Island Center Corp., the president of which is James Ferman, and the Florida Health Science Center, also known as Tampa General Hospital, want to rezone nearly 10-acres where they’d like to build a 150-bed rehabilitation hospital, an 100-room hotel for patients' families, medical offices and a freestanding seven-story garage. A contract to buy the site, owned by the Island Center Corp., will only close if the rezoning request is approved.

Ron Hytoff, Tampa General’s CEO, told the Tampa Tribune at the end of April that the new hospital would involve a 10-year development process. For starters the hospital would build a 75-bed hospital and the number of beds could potentially double over time.

Still, Babb is not discouraged by the long-term outlook for the rehabilitation hospital. The redevelopment area is also near the University of Tampa, which is in need of student housing, says Babb, so a developer who builds an apartment complex which could accommodate students would be a welcome addition to the neighborhood, he says.

Babb also believes that time is on the side of the Fremont. “Developers are starting to recognize that the worst of this economy is behind us, and since nothing has been built in the last few years and there is not a lot of apartment development in the pipeline,” he says that  two to three years from now will be a good time to deliver apartment units at this location.