Tampa Airport Selects Developer for Office Building
County Aviation Authority to Lease Three Floors

By Paul Owers
CoStar
Published: Apr 5, 2019

A Kansas City developer has been selected to build a nine-story office building at Tampa International Airport as part of a $2 billion expansion to serve more passengers.

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority on Thursday awarded a contract to VanTrust Real Estate. The developer expects to start construction this year on the 270,000-square-foot building and complete it in 2021, airport spokesman Danny Valentine said.

The county aviation authority plans to occupy three floors in the new building, allowing the airport to transform the existing offices into express lanes and curbsides for passengers without checked bags. VanTrust will eventually lease out the remainder of the building, and the aviation authority estimates it will buy the building for $135 million once it reaches 93 percent occupancy, according to Valentine.

The airport, the fourth-largest in Florida, served a record 21.3 million passengers last year and ultimately wants to accommodate 34 million passengers annually. It was rated fifth among 24 large airports nationwide in satisfaction rankings by market researcher J.D. Power, a consumer response survey company.

The building, which will be connected to the airport by an automated transit system, will include a conference center, fitness center and café. A parking garage will be adjacent to the building. Last month, the airport announced the completion of the first phase of the expansion. That project added more than 55,000 square feet of retail and public space to the main terminal and 69 shops and restaurants throughout the airport.

The office building is part of the second phase, which also will include a 35-acre commercial development surrounding the rental car facility. The final phase will add a new terminal with 16 gates for domestic and international flights.

Construction costs were not disclosed. A VanTrust official did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

"We think it's one of the best locations for any business,” Valentine said. "It obviously has great connection to the airport and is close to downtown and the Westshore district, and there's very little space available in that area.”

Westshore is one of the most prominent office markets in Tampa Bay and contains about 15 percent of the metropolitan area's office space, according to the latest report from CoStar Market Analytics. The market's vacancy rate stands at 10.6 percent.

"Office demand is perpetually strong, and coupled with minimal office construction this cycle, drove Westshore's vacancy rate into the single digits for the first time in a decade before some upward pressure this quarter,” the report stated.