Miami group buys Clearwater hotels, converting them to workforce apartments

A Miami real estate investment group has purchased two extended-stay hotels off Ulmerton Drive in Clearwater with the intent of converting them into apartments.

Eagle Property Capital Investments, working with Mexican private equity firm Promecap, closed this week on the adjacent TownePlace Suites by Marriott St. Petersburg Clearwater, 13200 49th St. N, and the Residence Inn by Marriott St. Petersburg Clearwater, 5050 Ulmerton Road.

The two properties have 183 units between them. Eagle Property Capital intends to convert them to efficiency, studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments in the 500-to-850-square-foot range and consolidate them under the name Pelican Lake Apartments.

“This was an exciting and rare opportunity to expand our footprint in the Tampa market by taking two centrally located extended stay hotels and transforming them into much-needed workforce housing,” Rodrigo Conesa, managing principal at Eagle Property Capital, said in a statement.

Conesa said negotiations for the separate purchases began “during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis.” The Residence Inn sold for $10.5 million, according to Pinellas County records. An Eagle Property Capital spokesperson said the total purchase price for both hotels was $20.6 million.

The two hotels sit on 11.2 adjacent acres, encompassing 14 three-story buildings, 209 parking spaces, a lake, fitness center, swimming pool and other amenities. The company said it plans to renovate the interiors and landscaping and add carports.

Eagle Property Capital operates nearly two dozen apartment complexes in Texas and Florida, including the 345-unit Captiva Club in Tampa and 304-unit Gateway on 4th in St. Petersburg.