CBRE brokers in Tampa, Atlanta analyze Austin Center's redevelopment potential
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 2, 2015

A team of brokers from CBRE Group Inc. in Tampa and Atlanta has been retained to examine possibilities for redeveloping the Austin Center.

Developed by late Tampa civic leader Al Austin in the late 1960s, the Austin Center is an office park in the heart of Tampa's Westshore Business District. Redstone Investments, which has offices in Tampa and Ohio, acquired the 300,000-square-foot complex on 10 acres in April.

The Austin Center is arguably one of the best urban infill sites in the Southeast: 10 contiguous acres in a highly occupied office district that's seeing an influx of thousands of residents to new multifamily construction. A successful mixed-use redevelopment of the property could be huge for Tampa, because it has the potential to create a sexy new live-work-play hub and generate significant tax revenue for the city.

Its location in the heart of Westshore makes any number of uses - retail, office, hotel and multifamily - a possibility for the site. The CBRE team hired to analyze the property includes Dale Peterson, Dave Conn and Sean Williams in Tampa as well as Jay O'Meara in Atlanta.

It's too soon to market the property to potential tenants, Conn said, as the group is only beginning to discuss potential redevelopment.

"You have to plan a couple years down the road on something as complex as this," said Conn, Southeast director of retail for CBRE. "In some respects, you have to anticipate the market."

The uses - which will be determined by market demand and timing - will dictate how the redevelopment plays out, and it could occur in phases, Conn said.

"It may not be one massive teardown," he said. "They may tear one down at a time to do something progressive."

Redstone executives have not been willing to disclose many details about their plans for the property, other than to say they are prioritizing the existing tenants in the park and will likely joint venture with another developer on a redevelopment.

"We think it's an excellent location," Redstone President Lyle Fogarty previously told TBBJ. "It's a great business address, and obviously Westshore is rapidly evolving into a premier urban destination."