Real estate in Midtown.
BY ABDUL SAHLY
NNB Student Reporter
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In 2012 Amber Mack decided to look for a rented apartment. She had lived in Gulfport, Fla. for years, but she moved into Midtown, where she had grown up, finding it a vital neighborhood, with good homes and prices.
Mack a Certified Nursing Assistant said Midtown was not good in terms of services and interests when she was a little girl.
But, in the last decade, Midtown has seen huge development and is one of the best places.
“There are many services around here; I can walk to both the post office and shopping, and it takes only five minutes to drive to my work,” she said.
Midtown is becoming a place for many people who are looking for a good neighborhood to live in. Many developments have been going on.
This historic neighborhood in the heart of St. Petersburg, where most residents part of African American community, has also been a place for investors during the boom.
Midtown is a community located in a 5.5 square mile area south of downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., between 2nd Ave. N. and 30th Ave. S. to the north and south, and 4th St. and 34th St. to the east and west.
In the past 25 years, the City of St. Petersburg has facilitated a number of development projects in Midtown, including Pinellas County Job Corps Center, Seaboard Coastline RR Terminal, Dome Industrial Park and many other projects.
“I like the activities here,” said Joe Washington, a musician who has been living in a rent apartment for a month.
Washington said the rent prices are reasonable, and he finds that Midtown is good place for his work because of the neighborhood’s vibrant life. “The church sometimes distributes free food,” he added.
Mazen Marie is an investor in St. Petersburg. He said Midtown is considered a good choice for investors because of its proximity to downtown. “It is close from USFSP, hospitals in downtown and companies.”
Marie indicated that most investors are looking for old and cheap houses in Midtown, and then they fix them and put them up for rent.
“It is the perfect market for buying crack houses for buy-to-rent,” he said.
Tampa Bay Times reporter Drew Harwell said that in the past five years nearly 90 percent home sales have gone to cash. The report indicated that buyers want to fix up and rent out Midtown’s abandoned homes. Buyers don’t care how run down the home is, as long as they want to rent it out.
Aaron Bond, a realtor at Keller Williams Realty, said that demanding of housing in the Midtown area is moderate.
“The average sale price for the last six months in Midtown is $137,366,” he said.
Bond said the housing market in few next years is expected to be stable. “There is a high demand with low inventory in general. I don’t think there is a special demand in Midtown specifically. That may change with the flood insurance rate changes.”