Adaptive Reuse Acquisition: Former Ed White Hospital
St. Petersburg, FL — A publicly traded hospital operator had just closed the former Ed White Hospital and wanted it sold before year-end, off-market and without the noise of a listing. Helvetica acquired the 6-story, 121,952 SF building in the desirable Kenwood neighborhood — two miles from downtown St. Petersburg — as a value-add investment positioned for adaptive reuse into 92 multifamily units.
The Seller's Problem
The seller — a publicly traded hospital operator — had recently shut down the facility and needed it off the books before year-end. A traditional marketing process would take months, invite scrutiny of a vacant institutional building, and risk missing the deadline entirely. What the seller wanted was a quiet, certain, all-cash close from a buyer who could look past a vacant medical building and see what it could become.
The Helvetica Solution
The opportunity came to Helvetica off-market, and the structure matched the seller's needs: a single-purpose acquisition entity closed quickly, without financing or listing contingencies. Helvetica underwrote the building on its fundamentals rather than its vacant status — a substantially below-replacement-cost basis in a six-story concrete structure in one of St. Petersburg's most desirable residential neighborhoods, with flexible reuse potential for senior housing, multifamily, or single-room-occupancy product.
The plan is to reposition the 121,952 SF building either for resale to a developer or contractor, or to repurpose and improve it into a 92-unit multifamily property with city and lake views — and, failing both, to offer it to multifamily and senior-housing sponsors active in the St. Petersburg market.
Benefit to the Seller
- Certain, all-cash close completed before the year-end deadline
- No months-long listing process or public marketing of a vacant hospital
- No financing contingency — a buyer who could move at the seller's pace
- A discreet, off-market exit for a recently closed institutional asset
Deal Highlights
- 6-story, 121,952 SF former hospital acquired off-market
- Price per square foot significantly below replacement cost
- Kenwood location: 2 miles from downtown St. Petersburg, 15 minutes from Tampa
- Adaptive-reuse path to 92 multifamily units, or resale to a developer
- Acquired through a single-purpose entity sponsored by Helvetica
- Exit: reposition and hold, or resale to multifamily and senior-housing sponsors
Need a creative financial partner?
Helvetica invests equity and funds loans from $300K–$10M+ on investment and business-purpose real estate, typically closing in 3–10 days following receipt of all requested documentation.
