Feldman group buys First Central Tower in downtown St. Petersburg
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 24, 2014

Larry Feldman's next turnaround prospect is downtown St. Petersburg's First Central Tower.

A joint venture of Feldman Equities, Tower Realty Partners and Second City Real Estate has acquired the 17-story, 250,000-square-foot tower for an undisclosed price. Feldman, CEO of Feldman Equities, will lead leasing and redevelopment efforts, while Tower Realty Partners will handle management responsibilities.

The group plans to invest $10 million in the tower, between renovations and tenant buildout. The partners will be dealing with a 50 percent vacancy, once tenants who are moving out in the coming months are accounted for. The planned renovations include an extensive overhaul of the lobby, upgraded tenant floor elevator lobbies, tenant corridors and restrooms.

The group will also add a concierge desk, a luxury fitness center and a conference center. Some lower levels will be converted to lounges for tenant use, and will include soft seating, large flat-screen TVs, iPad chairs and free Wi-Fi. "As with our other downtown acquisitions, this is yet another opportunity for us to do what we do best – renovating and upgrading office buildings in order to maximize their value," Feldman said in a statement.

A deed for the transaction has not yet been filed. The seller, Osprey Real Estate, acquired the tower in 2001 for $17 million, according to Pinellas County property records. It was built in 1984. The building is the kind of turnaround project Feldman specializes in. He has a track record of buying underperforming Tampa Bay office buildings and investing millions in them. The Wells Fargo Center in downtown Tampa, which he acquired in late 2012 and then renovated, is on the market.

Feldman also owns the Morgan Stanley Tower and City Center in downtown St. Petersburg.

Within two years of the purchase and redevelopment of each office building, the group has increased the occupancy rate in the Morgan Stanley Tower from 65 percent to 96 percent; City Center from 44 percent to more than 94 percent. The Wells Fargo Center has gone from 75 percent to 93 percent.

The same group also took Fountain Square II, an office building on Independence Parkway, from 69 percent to 99 percent occupancy and sold it for nearly $25 million earlier this year.

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.