Jabil sells $32M in St. Petersburg land for housing, industrial projects

One of Tampa Bay’s biggest public companies has sold more than 93 acres of land in St. Petersburg’s Gateway district for $32 million, clearing the way for a major industrial and residential development.

Technology giant Jabil Inc. sold two parcels at the northwest corner of Gandy Boulevard and Interstate 275 to limited liability corporations managed by Charleston, S.C.’s Greystar, one of the world’s biggest developers of rental properties. The deal closed on Tuesday, according to Pinellas County property records.

In plans and applications filed with the city over the past year, Greystar has proposed building up to 500 multifamily housing units and 1 million square feet of industrial space on the property. At least 20 percent of the residences would be workforce housing.

Greystar will be required to complete 200,000 square feet of shell space for industrial use “prior to or concurrently with” the residential units, according to city documents. It has said the industrial space will ultimately generate 3,300 new jobs in the area. The blend of new jobs and workforce housing appealed to city officials who approved changes to the property’s site plan last summer and fall.

“The industrial uses need to have proximity to people who are working there and a multi family (complex) certainly would provide that,” former Community Planning and Preservation Commission board member Jeff Rogo said during meeting last August.

Before negotiating with Greystar on the property, Jabil, which manufactures technological components for various companies, had in 2010 signed a development agreement with the city that would have allowed 1 million square feet of industrial, office and retail space.

Greystar has completed or is developing more than 260 projects throughout North America, and another 45 around the world. Among them is a 359-unit multifamily and industrial project in Miami and Ascent, a new mixed-use tower that broke ground in downtown St. Petersburg last year.