St. Petersburg: Tampa's cooler cousin

Miami attorney-turned-real estate developer Frank Guerra aims to bring a new kind of multifamily project, with green space and apartments in a resort-style setting, to a neighborhood outside downtown St. Petersburg.

The project marks the Gulf Coast debut for Guerra's firm, Miami-based Altis Cardinal. Guerra says St. Petersburg, specifically the Kenwood Historic District west of downtown, is a perfect spot to give this side of Florida a shot. That's mostly because of the recent job growth and projections for more in the urban core, a magnet for a younger demographic. “We like St. Petersburg's vibrancy and growth,” Guerra tells Coffee Talk. “It's been like the cooler cousin of Tampa.”

Getting in on the cool doesn't come cheap. The firm bought the Skyline Fifth apartment complex, with 178 one- and two-bedroom units, in late 2012 in Kenwood for $19.5 million, according to Pinellas County property records. That's about $110,000 a unit for what Guerra calls the first phase of the project, which sits on two acres.