Michigan investors pick up Westshore properties - including redevelopment site - for $17M
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 6, 2016

A Michigan firm has purchased two properties in Tampa's Westshore district, including a potential redevelopment site.

West Second Street Associates paid $17 million for 4950 W. Kennedy Blvd. and 5010 W. Kennedy Blvd., said Ken Heretick, managing partner of Kennedy Square Investors LLC, which sold the properties.

Heretick is also president of Vector Properties Inc. in St. Petersburg.

Sanford Mahr, president of TMC - The Mahr Cos., said his firm had been working with WSSA since 2012, looking for investment opportunities in the Tampa Bay region.

Mahr represented WSSA in this transaction and will continue to represent WSSA in marketing the property for lease or redevelopment.

The property at 4950 W. Kennedy Blvd. includes an 89,000-square-foot, six-story office building. The property at 5010 W. Kennedy Blvd. includes a two-story, 20,000-square-foot building and more than 2 acres, said Blake Kearney, a broker with Vector. Kearney and Ned Willis, a broker with Vector, represented Kennedy Square in the transaction.

The office building at 4950 W. Kennedy Blvd. is more than 90 percent occupied, Kearney said, and is a long-term investment play for WSSA.

The site at 5010 W. Kennedy has the potential to be redeveloped, Kearney said. There's heavy demand for retail space in Westshore and very few vacant spaces, according to local real estate experts. Mahr said his company will analyze all possible redevelopment scenarios for the site, including multifamily or office space. A principal with WSSA did not return a phone call seeking comment Tuesday.

Kennedy Square has owned 4950 W. Kennedy Blvd. since 1994 and bought the other property in 1999. Neither was on the market, Heretick said, but WSSA made an offer and his group decided it was a good time to sell.

"Our partners had money in the property since 1994," he said. "It was just a good opportunity for them to cash out."

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