Acquisition represents eighth for Continental Realty Fund IV, a $164 million fund that seeks value-add retail and multifamily opportunities in Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions

Continental Realty Corporation, a Baltimore-based real estate investment and management company, has acquired The Grand Reserve at Tampa Palms, a 390-unit apartment community located at 16616 Palm Royal Drive in Tampa, Florida for $65.5 million. The asset was purchased from Prudential Real Estate Investors, who was represented by Greg Engler, Pat Jones, and Chris Chad bourne of Walker & Dunlop Investment Sales.

Constructed in 1999 on approximately forty-one acres of land, the apartment community was acquired on behalf of Continental Realty Fund IV, L.P., which is focused on acquiring value-add retail and multifamily properties in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions of the United States.This represents the fourth residential community and eighth overall asset purchased by the Fund.

The Grand Reserve at Tampa Palms is a gated community comprised of 15, three-story garden buildings. With one, two, three and four bedroom floorplans ranging from 890 to 1,800 square feet of space, Grand Reserve features some of the largest units in the market at an average size of 1,213 square feet. Ninety of the units have attached garages with reserved parking in front.

The property is located within the master-planned community of Tampa Palms, which limits new multifamily development. Tampa Palms Elementary and Liberty Middle Schools, which are situated within one mile from the property, are both A rated.

The apartment community is surrounded by a number office parks including Highwoods Preserve Corporate Campus and Hidden River Corporate Park featuring companies such as MetLife, T-Mobile, Syniverse and USAA. Within immediate proximity to the apartment community are two grocery stores, as well as Best Buy, BJ’s Wholesale Club, hhgregg, Lowe’s, The Home Depot and PetSmart. Ten minutes north in Pasco County, Simon Properties just opened the Tampa Premium Outlets.

“The Grand Reserve at Tampa Palms represented a tremendous opportunity to acquire an apartment community in one of the most desirable areas of Tampa,” stated J.M. Schapiro, Chief Executive Officer of Continental Realty Corporation. “The property has performed extremely well historically, and we will have the ability to improve it further in a number of areas. We intend to renovate the apartment interiors with high-end finishes, as well as upgrade the common area amenities to make Grand Reserve the top luxury community in Tampa Palms. We were attracted to market fundamentals that include a 6.8% annual rent growth, total apartment occupancy that hovers above 96%, and the relative lack of new apartment units. The area has tremendous schools and is close to major employers including USAA and the University of South Florida. Together with the in-place amenity package and close proximity of retail shopping venues including The Shops at Wiregrass, we felt like we could clearly add value to this property and improve operating results.”

On-site community amenities include a clubhouse outfitted with a state-of-the-art health and fitness facility and resident lounge; an outdoor pool, sundeck and Jacuzzi; screened outdoor kitchen area; sand volleyball pit; lighted tennis and basketball courts and a children’s playground. Individual storage units and a car care center are also integrated within the residential community.

Median home values contained within one mile from The Grand Reserve at Tampa Palms exceed $300,000 and the average household income is approximately $90,000 within a three-mile radius of the project, which is 33% higher than the Tampa metropolitan statistical area.

Continental Realty Corporation, headquartered in Baltimore and founded in 1960, is a full-service commercial real estate investment and management company. The privately-owned firm owns and manages a diversified portfolio of retail centers consisting of more than three million square feet of space, as well as almost 10,000 apartment homes. Positioned throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions, the value of the portfolio exceeds $1.5 billion. For additional information, visit www.crcrealty.com