(Carl Cronan is editor of Real Estate Florida.)
OLDSMAR, FL-Lutz Real Estate Investments is putting its local Tri-County Business Park on the market after three years of ownership and more than $4 million worth of capital improvements. Commercial real estate brokers in the Tampa Bay area anticipate that the 20-building complex could go for as much as $90 million, or $130 per square foot.
"Our goal was to fix it up and sell it, and that's what we're doing," Adam Lutz, president and CEO of Farmington Hills, MI-based Lutz Real Estate, tells GlobeSt.com. The firm paid nearly $50 million for Tri-County in 2005 in a partnership with GE Real Estate in Atlanta.
The 676,735-square-foot park on 76.5 acres was originally developed between 1980 and 1988, and has received new facades, roofing, landscaping and signage over the last three years. It also benefits from an expansion of Race Track Road, a thoroughfare of the area connecting Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco Counties. The park contains a mix of light-industrial and office space, and is currently 75% leased, according to CB Richard Ellis, which is marketing the property.
"There is the opportunity to boost returns by leasing up existing vacant space starting in the first year," says Dale Peterson, senior vice president of investment properties with CBRE's Tampa office. He tells GlobeSt.com that Tri-County's average in-place rents are below market, meaning the next owner has the potential to increase those rents as current leases expire in the next several years.
Another key selling point is that the property has non-recourse assumable debt at below-market interest, which Peterson says should appeal to many investors during the ongoing capital markets transition. The park is also in a growth area with little land available for development, he says.
Lutz Real Estate owns one other commercial property in the Tampa Bay market, the 100 Bay Central office building in Downtown St. Petersburg. Universal Health Care Group Inc. became a 31,000-square-foot tenant there in September.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
