Nearly 65 commercial acres in Pinellas County's Gateway area listed for sale
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 16, 2019

A landowner in the Pinellas County's Gateway area — home to HSN, Valpak, Great Bay Distributors and other big names in business — is putting seven parcels up for sale.

Nancy Surak, managing broker at Land Advisors Organization, has the exclusive listing for the remaining parcels in the Gateway Centre Business Park in Pinellas Park. The parcels total nearly 65 acres and are zoned for commercial development.

The owner, Huntley Properties LLC, has owned the land since February 2007, according to Pinellas County property records.

Surak is taking the property to market just as the COVID-19 outbreak threatens to send the global economy into a recession. But she said she remains optimistic; after beginning the marketing push on March 11, she immediately received offers from two different groups on two different parcels. The outbreak has threatened the global supply chain, and Surak points out that some think that could lead to a renewed push to bring more manufacturing to the U.S.

"I think we’re going to see some manufacturing that's taking place elsewhere return to the U.S.," Surak said.

Six of the parcels have zoning that permits light manufacturing. The total vacancy rate in industrial real estate in South Pinellas County is 5.6 percent as of the end of 2019, according to CBRE Group Inc., and there is nothing under construction in that submarket.

The land market in South Pinellas is also extremely tight, Surak said. She said she predicts interest from life sciences and medical technology as well as defense contractors.

The largest parcel, Surak said, is about 18 acres, though its usable acreage is around 12. The smallest tract is just over 4 acres. Surak said she expects the buyers to be a mix of end users and developers, though the seller is open to all offers.

"My ownership is willing to sell to one party," Surak told the Business Journal. "It's 65 acres, so it’s a lot for one entity to take down, but the different sizes offer flexibility as what you’ll see built on each parcel."