TAMPA-Land sales are seeing some traction in the Tampa Bay area. Two parcels have traded in back-to-back deals.

After approximately two years of searching, Matheson Tri-Gas closed on a 15-acre site in Polk County. Matheson Tri-Gas purchased the land from the City of Lakeland for $745,000. The site is located off North Combee Road and Saddle Creek Road, near the Wilson Acres subdivision.

Matheson Tri-Gas is a subsidiary to Japan's Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp. and currently operates 16 similar plants throughout the United States. The New Jersey-based firm is building a $40 million air separation facility that is projected to be the second-biggest user of electricity in the county.

Jarib Rodriguez, a sales associate at CBRE, handled the site selection for Matheson. The assignment began in August of 2009. Rodriguez tells GlobeSt.com the company considered sites in several counties before finding a location that met its intense power and zoning requirements.

“Many growing industries have very unique requirements in their site selection process,” Rodriguez says. “As these types of highly-specialized industrial companies look to grow their business in the US, support from the government will ultimately determine where they bring their business."

City zoning officials approved the site in May. However, other contractual items delayed closing. The purchase was contingent upon the city building a $1.5 million substation for the plant, which could have an annual electric bill between $3.5 million and $4.5 million.

Meanwhile, BB&T bank sold bank-owned land in Brooksville. T. Sean Lance of NAI Tampa Bay represented the bank in the sale of Hernando Hills, a collection of eight vacant parcels totaling 161 acres at the southwest quadrant of US Highway 41 and Mason Smith Road and sold for the full asking price of $699,000. Tommie Dawson Realty represented the buyer, a local investor.