Tampa's West Shore area to get upscale 323-unit waterfront apartment community

TAMPA — Construction is expected to start this summer on Seazen, a 323-unit waterfront apartment community in the Rocky Point area of West Shore.

Insurance giant Northwestern Mutual and Orlando developer ZOM Florida announced Thursday that they are partnering on the project at 7616 W Courtney Campbell Causeway. It currently is the site of a popular Chart House restaurant.

"The moment I saw this site, I knew it was something very special," John Jacobs, director of field production for Northwestern Real Estate Investments, said in a release. "There is nothing like it on the west coast of Florida. Almost 85 percent of the units (will) have views of the expansive Tampa Bay."

Seazen, a complex of three- and six-story buildings, will join a growing number of upscale apartment and condo projects that are making West Shore a bona fide live-work-play area. An estimated 100,000 people, many of them millennials, work in the area and increasingly choose to live close to its two major malls and Tampa International Airport.

The developers did not give construction costs or rent figures, though the average rent in West Shore is now $1,650. In the Tampa Bay area, that is second only to rents in booming downtown St. Petersburg.

Property records show that the restaurant site was purchased in 2007 for $19 million by Naidip Tampa Bay LLC, whose corporate officers include Pradip C. Patel. He is a brother of Dr. Kiran Patel, a well-known Tampa philanthropist and founder of the WellCare health care company.

Advance leasing of Seazen is expected to start late next year, with construction due to be completed in summer 2018.

Chart House will close May 31 but its parent company, Landry's, is looking for another bay area location.

"Tampa is a beautiful city and Chart House will be back,'' said Shah Ghani, Landry's divisional vice president. "We value our employees, their work experience and dedication to our company; and are working to relocate them to our other area Landry's restaurants."

Contact Susan Taylor Martin at smartin@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8642. Follow @susanskate.