WorldCom Unloads Call Center for $6.3M

TAMPA, FL-WorldCom Inc., struggling to emerge from Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, has sold its 12-year-old, 124,983-sf call center in Gateway Centre Business Park near Tampa, FL for less than half of what the vacant building was estimated to have been built for in 1990.

Pinellas Plaza LLC, a private Tampa-based investment group, paid the Clinton, MS-based telecommunications company $6.3 million or $50.40 per sf for the class A structure. Area construction industry estimators tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity the building was constructed for an estimated $125 per sf or about $15.6 million.

WorldCom subsidiary MCI Corp. leased the building from 1993 to mid-2001 when WorldCom filed for Chapter 11 protection on July 21, 2001. The company disclosed at that time it had improperly accounted for $3.8 billion of expenses.