RangeWater Expands Footprint in Tampa Area with First In-House Florida Construction Project

RangeWater Real Estate and Nuveen Real Estate is breaking ground on Tortola, a new 288-unit residential community in the suburban community of Wesley Chapel near Tampa, Florida. RangeWater Real Estate will oversee the development and property management of the community. Nuveen Real Estate is the capital partner on the project.

Tortola will feature three-story, garden-style buildings, with a range of amenities from a dog park and car wash to walking trails and open-air greenspace. Located at 33100 Eiland Boulevard in Wesley Chapel, a suburb between Tampa and Zephyrhills in Pasco County, Florida, the new community will serve the growing need for housing in the area with 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, himself a lifelong resident of Tampa. “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.”

The state’s red-hot housing market – fanned by an influx of newcomers – has strained available housing, but RangeWater has been actively developing in the area and across the state. Florida is RangeWater’s second-largest market after its home state of Georgia. The firm has developed 6,392 units in the state since 2011.

Tortola will be the first ground-up community in Florida to be built by RangeWater’s newly launched in-house construction, led by Alp Kirmizioglu, with floor plans similar to the completed 324-unit Sage at Cypress Cay development in Tampa, which began leasing last year, and the 252-unit Lantana, which began construction last year.

In Wesley Chapel, the family-friendly community will sit on 20 acres and feature great amenities, such as optional detached garages, a clubhouse with a fitness center, fire pits and kitchenette, a car wash and a 3-acre dog park with a dog-wash station.

The park will feature a large lawn for movie nights and games such bocce ball, Everett said, and a bridge leads from the property to a nearby pond which is preserved from further development.

“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 to build our 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.”

RangeWater is expected to break ground immediately. The first units will be delivered late Summer 2023.

“Nuveen is excited about starting a development relationship with RangeWater in the Tampa metro area,” said Carlos Burneo, US 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 US.”

The area is a growing employment center. Amazon is scheduled to open a new fulfillment center on State Road 52 later this year and in 2019 AdventHealth added the former Florida Hospital facility and campus in Zephyrhills to its network.

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.

Among RangeWater’s most recent Sunshine State initiatives are two age-targeted communities under RangeWater’s Olea brand, Olea Beach Haven and Olea eTown, which broke ground in 2022 and are designed to offer high-end apartment living to active adults.

In 2020, RangeWater launched its Storia platform, a $1B program aimed at developing build-to-rent single-family home communities across the Sun Belt. Build-to-rent has already become 15 percent of the company’s managed portfolio, with communities in the pipeline in Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Jacksonville, Nashville, Phoenix, Raleigh, and San Antonio.

View Tortola >>