Tampa City Center snapped up in $128 million deal
By Alexis Muellner
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 30, 2014

In one of the largest commercial real estate deals in Tampa Bay area history, Tampa City Center has been sold for a whopping $128.13 million.

The buyer is Alliance Partners, the East Coast operating arm of the Shidler Group, a commercial real estate investment, development and management firm based in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

"It's really a huge statement on the confidence investors have in downtown Tampa," said Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director Mike Davis. "It's a giant bet made by a very savvy private equity group in downtown Tampa and it's a lot of money to deploy in one asset."

The Capital Markets Group of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, One Tampa City Center LLC. It is a joint venture between Carval Investors of Minneapolis and Mainstreet Capital Partners of Fort Lauderdale. It bought the asset in 2006 for $88 million.

Strong pricing exceeded seller expectations, Davis said.

The price per square foot was $171. "Relative to what office buildings have sold for in Tampa, it's a big price but relative to the cost of building a new office tower, it's still a relatively low price," Davis said.

The 38-story office tower is comprised of 749,035 square feet of Class A office space. The building is located 201 N. Franklin Street, and is downtown Tampa's second-largest office building.

It was built in 1981, and was Tampa's tallest building until 1986.

"Tampa City Center was the really the first modern skyscraper built in Tampa and really is the epicenter of the central business district," Davis said.

Along with Davis, Cushman & Wakefield Director Rick Brugge, Executive Director David Meline and Senior Director Michael Lerner managed the transaction.

Cushman & Wakefield's Atlanta-based Equity Debt and Structured Finance Group arranged an acquisition loan on behalf of GE Capital Corp. and CBREI provided the acquisition financing.

Notable tenants include Merrill Lynch, University Club, Bank of Tampa, Florida Bank, Ernst & Young, PNC Bank, Verizon and Northwest Mutual Insurance Co.

The structure is green, and carries the LEED Gold certification.

It's also equipped with Verizon's SmartCenter telecommunications capabilities and is linked directly to the downtown's largest and most centralized city-owned parking garage, the 2,523-space Fort Brooke garage.

Cushman & Wakefield advises and represents clients on all aspects of property occupancy and investment. Founded in 1917, it has 250 offices in 60 countries, employing more than 16,000 professionals.

Alexis Muellner is Editor of the Tampa Bay Business Journal.