Pinellas Park developer to transform two mobile home parks into apartments

A developer known primarily for commercial projects, including construction of the new Jollibee in Pinellas Park — a fast food restaurant popular in the Philippines — is planning to build multifamily housing at two former mobile home parks.

The Belleair Development Group will demolish mobile homes at 1650 S Fort Harrison in Largo for a $45 million project of 256 apartments.

The Pinellas Park developer will also convert the former Lamplight Village mobile home park at 8624 4th St. N in St. Petersburg into a $30 million project of 96 townhouse-style units. The St. Petersburg City Council is expected to vote on a zoning request on Feb. 13 that will allow the developer to build apartments on the site. The mobile home parks are vacant.

Carlos Yepes, co-owner of Belleair Development, which bought the Largo property last June, said at least 15 percent of the apartments — less than a mile from Morton Plant Hospital — will be workforce housing.

The development, expected to be complete in 2021, will be known as Alta Belleair. “We hope to start construction within two months,” Yepes said.

Plans are moving a little slower in St. Petersburg, where the firm plans to convert the property of 112 mobile homes into about 96 apartments.

Christain Yepes, who co-owns Belleair Development with his father, Carlos, said they had hoped to revitalize the mobile home park, but discovered “significant infrastructure issues that needed to be resolved.” He added that as they progressed with the project, “it became evident that a change needed to be made (and) the cost of revitalization kept snowballing.”

Their current plans are “in line with our initial goal to create a desirable place to live, at an affordable price,” he said. “While the influx of luxury apartments and high-end residential units has been a consistent trend, the local workforce is finding it more and more difficult to secure affordable homes. They are great additions to the city. However, it limits the available options for the workforce.”

The two-story units will have garages on the ground floor and living areas on the second. “With the area being in a flood zone, it made sense to have the garage on the ground floor and keep all of the living space up above,” Christian Yepes said.

Belleair Development also owns nearby property, specifically, three corners at the intersection of 87th Avenue and Fourth Street N. The firm installed a traffic light, which cost $700,000, at the intersection. They are also building a new Verizon wireless store in front of the mobile home park, along with another commercial building. They’ve already built a new Wawa across the street and own the Cafe Cibo building next to it. Christian Yepes said the company saw “incredible potential for redevelopment” of the underutilized intersection.

Heading west, the family-owned firm has also developed several properties along 34th Street N, including a site next to Goodwill, at 2550 34th St N, that will be rented to the Pinellas County Tax Collectors Office. The Tax Collector will leave its current Tyrone-area quarters — also owned by Belleair Development — for the new 34th Street location this summer.