From ultra-luxe Bayshore condos to affordable housing, Miami condo king Jorge Perez says Related Group will have a 'permanent' presence in Tampa Bay

The Related Group plans to transform an aging Bayshore Boulevard complex into the "most iconic looking" condo towers in Tampa Bay — a structure that CEO Jorge Perez says will call to mind a "glass sculpture."

"Without a doubt, it will be the premier residential building," Perez said Wednesday. "If you can afford it, you will not live anywhere else."

In June, Related paid $25.26 million for Bay Oaks, an apartment complex with frontage on Bayshore Boulevard that spans from the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway to Bayshore. It's almost 5 acres — huge by urban development standards — but Related is still looking to buy some of the neighboring properties, Perez said. Besides the condo towers, the site will also be home to several townhouse units.

The condos will represent the very top of the Tampa condo market. Perez said the type of product he plans to build would sell for $3,000 per square foot in Miami, but Related is still penciling out how much a building of that class would sell for here, maybe $700 to $800 per square foot. Its height would be in line with other Bayshore condo towers, possibly around 24 stories. Presales won't begin until plans are filed with the city, which is still a few months out.

"I think there’s a market for luxury in Tampa, but I think the luxury market has not been entered yet, in terms of buildings that are truly, truly spectacular," Perez told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "And we think that there’s a market for that, but like in all cities, that market is limited."

But even with an ultra-luxe project like the Bay Oaks redevelopment in the works, Perez is adamant that he and Related are more than their reputation as high-end developers. Perez himself is known as Miami's condo king, but Related also develops affordable housing and rental properties that target three different demographics under its Town, Manor and Icon banners.

To that end, Related plans to open a regional office in Tampa, one that its executives say represents a long-term commitment to the Bay region. Beyond Bay Oaks, Related is also the developer of the West River affordable housing project along with apartments in downtown St. Petersburg, the Westshore Marina District and downtown Tampa. In November, Related sold Icon Harbour Island for $131 million.

The developer is still looking for land, Perez said, for everything from condos to rentals to affordable housing.

Related is still looking for office space, Perez said — ideally near the West River project.

"I want to do something like this — a super cool open space," Perez said, gesturing from his seat at Oak & Ola in Armature Works in Tampa, "and make a statement that we want to be part of changing a neighborhood."

The company's first project in Tampa was Pierhouse Channelside, a project that set a new high benchmark for per-unit apartment pricing in Tampa Bay when it sold for $214,000 per door in 2014. Just five years later, Tampa Bay multifamily deals regularly crush the $200,000 per unit threshold, and a Harbour Island tower sold for a record $440,000 per apartment in September.

Related is also behind one of the splashiest apartment deals in downtown Tampa in recent memory: It acquired and redeveloped the former Tampa Tribune's headquarters on the downtown waterfront, and the site is now home to Manor Riverwalk.