Manatee workforce housing project secures $15M construction loan

A workforce housing project planned for Bradenton achieved a milestone this week, after securing $15 million in construction financing. Ian Fitzgerald, an originator for Largo Capital, arranged the loan from Cogent Bank for Forest Cove, a workforce housing complex that will be built by affordable housing developer One Stop Housing.

Forest Cove will provide 156 apartments priced below market rate for employees of organizations that have signed on to help develop the project.

In addition to One Stop Housing, the development group consists of nine equity partners, according to One Stop Housing CEO and Managing Partner Mark Vengroff: Aladdin Pools, CareerSource Suncoast, Goodwill Manasota, Nissan Motors, Anna Maria Oyster Bar parent company Oysters Rock Hospitality, S&B Metals, Spirit Movers, Sunz Insurance and One Stop Housing Development and Construction.

The apartment complex will be located at 1478 45th Ave. Circle W., near the intersection of Cortez Road West and 14th Street W., a few miles south of downtown Bradenton. 

“We expect to break ground sometime in August,” Vengroff says in an email.

Currently, architects and engineers are working on the site plans and building plans. Once construction begins, it will take about two years to complete.

The workforce housing development will cost $28.84 million to build, according to Vengroff.

Manatee County agreed to provide a $5.66 million loan for the project in April 2025. It enabled the developer to borrow less and keep interest “more reasonable” when negotiating the deal with Cogent Bank for the construction loan, Vengroff says. The construction loan financing was structured on a five-year term with 36 months of interest-only payments and a completion guaranty that burns off to non-recourse at stabilization, according to Largo Capital.