Orlando Firm Plans $100 Mil. Stake in Tampa Area

Spotting a niche in a market 80 miles from home, Orlando-based St. Joe Commercial plans to invest between $50 million and $100 million over the next five years in buying up older properties that have outlived their usefulness in neighboring Tampa’s central business district and the Westshore area.

“Preliminary feasibility surveys indicate enormous opportunities in this area, particularly in the downtown area,” St. Joe Commercial vice president Frank W. Herring Jr. tells GlobeSt.com. “While a strong niche exists in the rehabilitation and restoration of historic buildings, we plan to focus on opportunities that offer larger scales.”

For example, Herring notes typical suburban office facilities developed 25 to 30 years ago are no longer workable. “Opportunities to acquire and redevelop them abound,” Herring says. “Over the next decade, we see the biggest commercial development opportunities in the creative recycling of such older properties.”