Tampa developer buys prime site in Westshore, considering office, hotel projects
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 23, 2015

A Tampa developer has purchased a prime corner in Westshore and is considering several projects for the site, including hotel and office developments.

An affiliate of the Giunta Group Ltd., a Tampa-based developer, paid $3.9 million for the 8-acre site at the corner of West Laurel and North O'Brien streets in early March, according to Hillsborough County property records. The site is south of Avion Park, where Highwoods Properties Inc. is under construction on a $56 million custom campus for Laser Spine Institute.

The seller was a Jacksonville-based affiliate of Flagler Development Group.

The buzz in real estate circles is that Giunta is planning a mixed-use development that will include a high-end Italian restaurant, hotel rooms and a spa, a new concept that could be similar in design and style to the Epicurean Hotel in South Tampa.

Principal Richard S. Giunta and his accountant Paul Baumman declined comment on those rumors.

"Everything is on the table at this point," Baumann said.

It's unusual in commercial real estate for a developer to close on land without solidifying plans for a particular site, but Giunta said he is confident that the Westshore market could support a variety of new projects.

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