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Buildings in Tampa office park sell for $111 million

 
In what is Tampa Bay’s third big commercial real estate deal recently, Prudential Insurance Co.’s real estate arm has bought five buildings in east Tampa’s Highland Oaks office park.
In what is Tampa Bay’s third big commercial real estate deal recently, Prudential Insurance Co.’s real estate arm has bought five buildings in east Tampa’s Highland Oaks office park.
Published Sept. 3, 2015

TAMPA — The real estate arm of the giant Prudential Insurance Co. has purchased five buildings in east Tampa's Highland Oaks office park for $111 million.

It is Tampa Bay's third major commercial real estate transaction in the past few weeks.

"There's a lot of investor enthusiasm" in the area, said Dale Peterson of CBRE, which represented the seller in the Highland Oaks transaction. "What we're seeing is surging population growth, strong job growth, a very healthy labor market and rapidly improving infrastructure in roads. We've got a bunch of new residential units being developed that are attracting millennials."

Highland Oaks, just off Interstate 75 and one exit south of the Interstate 4 interchange, is "extremely accessible," Peterson said, noting that it is within a 45-minute commute for 2 million people.

Among the tenants in the five Class A buildings sold to Prudential Real Estate Investors are Mosaic, McDonald's, Rasmussen College and Greystone Health Network. The five buildings account for more than half of the park's 1 million square feet.

Other tenants in the eight-building park, developed by Duke Realty between 1999 and 2008, include JPMorgan Chase, Hilton Garden Inn, ConAgra and J.M. Smucker, the fruit-spreads maker.

Since CBRE took over leasing of the park in 2012, occupancy has risen from 80 percent to 96 percent. That gives Highland Oaks "the highest overall occupancy rates in the suburban market," said CBRE vice chairman Christian Lee.

In August, five Pinellas County industrial parks whose tenants include FedEx and Jabil sold for $113 million. And a 955,000-square-foot industrial campus in east Tampa sold for an undisclosed price in what was called the largest single-site industrial transaction in Tampa since 2010.

"Our fundamentals are very strong," Peterson said of the bay area market. "We're seeing positive absorption on the industrial and office side with no new construction, so as vacancies decline we're seeing rents increase."

Contact Susan Taylor Martin at smartin@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8642. Follow @susansakate.