Ybor City Gas Worx signs its first office lease

Tampa’s Grow Financial Federal Credit Union will have a new headquarters in Ybor City.

It’s the first business to sign an office lease in the Gas Worx project, according to a news release from development firm Kettler.

Gas Worx, a joint partnership between Washington, D.C.-based Kettler and local real estate investor Darryl Shaw, is planning to transform southwest Ybor City into a walkable and bikeable community with housing, shopping and office spaces.

Grow Financial Federal Credit Union — a financial nonprofit established for MacDill Air Force Base service members — signed a lease for a 50,000-square-foot space. Construction is expected to begin next year. The office plans to open by the end of 2026, the release said.

The Grow Financial headquarters will take up two floors and have retail space on the first floor.

“This decision further demonstrates the overall confidence in our vibrant and growing urban core,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a statement. “We look forward to the positive impact they will have on our local economy, as well as the unique contributions they will bring to the Ybor City community.”

Attracting a large office operation is a major step for the development.

Bringing in workers could help activate the growing number of businesses coming into the new neighborhood, such as an indoor pickleball club and a cheesemaking venture.

“We are excited to be embarking on the next phase of Gasworx, which will truly start to deliver the placemaking and amenities that are central to a vibrant community,” Kettler CEO Bob Kettler said in a statement. “Office workers will bring daytime foot traffic to support the critical mass of retail proposed at the heart of the development.”

The office will be part of Phase 2 of the project.

The second phase will take up three blocks around Second and Fifth avenues, Channelside Drive and Avenida Republica de Cuba with 500 apartments, 100,000 square feet of office space and 85,000 square feet for retail.

A large warehouse in this phase of development will be converted into a restaurant and market space, the release said.

“Pre-leasing half of the first building at Gasworx is further testament to the pent-up demand for both residents and businesses to be centrally located, in a walkable, streetcar-accessible neighborhood that is part of the larger Ybor City community,” Shaw said in a statement.