Pinellas close to deal to sell Young-Rainey STAR Center to Industrial Realty Group
By Mark Puente
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Aug 16, 2016

LARGO - One of the nation's largest private real estate holding companies wants to buy a Pinellas County complex where triggers for the nation's nuclear arsenal were once manufactured more than six decades ago.

If the County Commission approves the estimated $10 million deal next month, the Industrial Realty Group will take over the Young-Rainey Science, Technology and Research, or STAR, Center, a 96-acre manufacturing and technology campus the county owns on Bryan Dairy Road.

The Los Angeles firm manages more than 120 properties in 28 states, with more than 100 million square feet of rentable space. Led by president and chairman Stuart Lichter, the firm specializes in turning shuttered military bases and industrial complexes into centers that attract jobs from national corporations. Three of IRG's projects under way in Ohio are estimated to be worth $1 billion.

"We think it will expose this area to many more companies," said Pinellas County economic development director Mike Meidel, "It's a phenomenal company."

IRG already owns a 460,000-square-foot industrial complex in Tampa, east of Ybor City. A company spokeswoman declined to comment on the firm's plans in the Tampa Bay area until the Pinellas deal closes.

The complex currently features eight buildings totaling nearly 662,000 square feet and about 7 acres of developable land. IRG would have to honor the current leases of the 30 tenants, including Raytheon, which develops and produces communication devices. Raytheon accounts for more than half of the jobs on the site and has leasing options for up to 18 years.

As the county finalizes the agreement, Meidel declined to say whether the price tag of the $10.1 million deal could increase. Last year an appraisal said the property was worth nearly $19.1 million.

The campus brings in $8 million to $9 million in annual revenue from leases. But it also costs the county about $8 million to operate and maintain. Pinellas' general revenue funds are not used to maintain the property.

The county declared the property surplus in October 2014 and started a nationwide search for buyers in June 2015. There were two proposals, Meidel said, and IRG's stood out.

The company sees the complex as a hub for research and development with a corporate headquarters. The property could support a $30 million capital investment for new buildings over five years, according to IRG's proposal, along with office space, labs and production and warehouse space. The proposal doesn't specify how many jobs any redevelopment would add.

The "excellent location makes it a prime candidate attracting cutting-edge industry innovators," the proposal said. "We also envision a business incubator on-site to cater to small or startup entrepreneurial companies in their endeavor to jump-start their technology."

While the proposal didn't provide specifics, it said Pinellas County should gain additional tax revenues from construction activity and personal property and business taxes.

IRG is certainly familiar with Pinellas County.

In 2008, county leaders picked IRG and an Ohio company to turn 240 acres at the Toytown landfill site into an expanse of shops, homes and recreation space. The Great Recession killed the $870 million venture. In the following years, Meidel said, the county continued to alert IRG about other Pinellas opportunities.

One of the firm's biggest projects includes the former McClellan Air Force Base in California, now called McClellan Park. After buying the property from Sacramento County in 2000, the firm turned the base into a multiuse business park with about 8.5 million square feet of buildings.

The firm has now leased more than 5 million square feet of commercial, industrial, and aviation space there. Tenants include Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and the Department of Agriculture. IRG said the project has created more than 8,000 jobs.

In Ohio, the firm developed Goodyear's world headquarters in Akron. A few miles south in Canton, IRG redeveloped the 88-acre site of the old headquarters of the Hoover Vacuum Co. In addition, the company is in the middle of a $500 million project at the Pro Football Hall of Fame campus, called Hall of Fame Village.

IRG listed the Sacramento and Akron projects as references in its proposal for redeveloping the Young-Rainey STAR Center.

The sale of the Young-Rainey STAR Center would open a new chapter in the long history of the property.

In 1956, General Electric built the original 161,000-square-foot building on what was once known as Bryan's Dairy Farm. GE sold the facility to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission the following year but continued to operate what became known as the Pinellas Plant, engineering, developing and manufacturing components for the nation's nuclear weapons program.

In 2001, officials rededicated the campus to honor two Pinellas residents who had a hand in the center's creation: U.S. Rep C.W. Bill Young and former County Commission Chairman Charles "Chuck" Rainey.

Contact Mark Puente at mpuente@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2996. Follow @MarkPuente