Pinellas County talks price with top bidder for 96-acre manufacturing and tech campus
By Margie Manning
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 28, 2015

Pinellas County Economic Development officials are in negotiations with Industrial Realty Group LLC, a California-based firm that was the top-ranked bidder to acquire the county-owned Young-Rainey STAR Center.

"We're trying to come together on a price ... and we expect that to come before the [Pinellas County] commission in March,” Mike Meidel, director of the county's economic development agency, told Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Industrial Realty Group, based in Los Angeles, is a privately-held real estate development and investment firm specializing in the acquisition, development and management of commercial and industrial real estate across the country. The company, which has acquired or developed more than $1 billion in corporate and government properties, most recently made headlines in November with the purchase of 200 acres in New York from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

A company spokeswoman said she could not comment on any potential acquisitions.

IRG was one of two bidders on the STAR Center property, a 96-acre manufacturing and technology campus at the northwest corner of Bryan Dairy and Belcher roads that's home to about two dozen firms, including a network centric systems manufacturing operation for Raytheon.

The other bidder, Harrod Properties Inc., is a local firm that manages about 28 acres and 400,000 square feet in the center.

The center is appraised at just under $19.1 million, according to the request for negotiations issued by the PCED earlier this year.

Pinellas County also is trying to sell another high-profile property, Toytown, the 240-acre former landfill at Interstate 275 and Roosevelt Boulevard. Backers of SportsPark Partners, the top bidder for the side, propose a $662 million development that would include a spring training facility for the Atlanta Braves and additional sports facilities, as well as dormitory, hotel, retail, restaurants and office space. Echelon LLC of St. Petersburg is the developer for that project.

Meidel said negotiations should begin in January on that property as well.

Pinellas County commissioners have said that a final decision depends on the St. Petersburg City Council's talks with the Tampa Bay Rays. That's because the SportsPark plan would use county funding that might otherwise go for a new stadium for the Rays, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Margie Manning is Finance Editor of the Tampa Bay Business Journal. She covers the Money beat.