Rosemary property sells for $5.8 million

New development is forging ahead this month in the Rosemary District, as the group planning hundreds of apartments closed on the sale of a 2.7-acre parcel on Fruitville Road Monday.

Tampa-based Forge Capital Partners spent $5.8 million for the future site of Sarasota Flats, on which fellow Tampa firm Framework Group will build 228 apartments in a five-story building. While the $35 million Sarasota Flats is one of at least seven new residential projects in the works in the area north of downtown, it’s only the second project to proceed under the Rosemary Residential Overlay District.

That special zoning option allows for up to 75 units per acre in certain areas of Rosemary. The nearby CitySide development, which broke ground earlier this year, uses the overlay district.

The property last sold for $3.6 million in 2004.

"It is exciting for a land sale to be part of the energizing of the Rosemary Overlay District,” said Michael Saunders & Co. Realtor Susan Goldstein, who represented Framework. "It also will be offering a product that is currently unavailable in the downtown area.”