Another retail redevelopment springs up in South Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 5, 2016

An aging strip center on West Kennedy Boulevard appears to be moving toward demolition and redevelopment.

The owners of 4001 W. Kennedy Blvd. transferred the title to the property to a new corporate entity and secured a $5.176 million mortgage - likely a construction loan - from Gulfshore Bank, according to documents filed Friday.

The managers of the corporation are Joseph C. Pupello Sr., who owns South Tampa's Tahitian Inn, and Nancy A. Pappas. The city approved a rezoning request for the property to make way for a new 19,300-square-foot strip center earlier this year. It's slated to contain restaurant and medical office space, about 9,000 square feet of which could be home to restaurants. The developer will be charged a transportation mitigation fee of $39,353 ($4,372.56 per square foot of restaurant space), according to city records.

The submitted site plans do not name any potential tenants, and the leasing agent who's been marketing the property could not be reached for comment Sunday evening.

An unanchored strip center is not a major development in commercial real estate. But in South Tampa, where the landscape is dotted with aging retail centers, the project is a sign that the market is receptive to paying the rents necessary to make redevelopment and new construction possible.

Besides this project, construction is underway on a Sprouts Farmers Market-anchored development at South Dale Mabry Highway and West Estrella Street. A retail redevelopment is also proposed at 3702 W. Kennedy Blvd.

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