Developer buys Big Top Flea Market property at Fowler and I-75
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 7, 2021

The 32-acre site previously home to Big Top Flea Market is in the hands of a developer who will build nearly 300 apartments there.

Birmingham, Alabama-based LIV Development paid $6.578 million for the property, which is at East Fowler Avenue and Interstate 75 in Thonotosassa, said Nancy Surak, senior land advisor and managing broker for Land Advisors Organization Tampa Bay. Plans call for 292 units, Surak said.

Surak represented the seller, Big Top of Tampa Inc., in the transaction. Construction is slated to begin in early 2021, and the first residents will move in in mid-2022.

Surak said Big Top of Tampa retained a 3.8-acre commercial corner on Fowler Avenue that it plans to sell later. The property was rezoned in March 2020 to make way for LIV's multifamily development — 276 units and 14 rental townhomes — and 22,000 square feet of commercial space.

LIV is a prolific multifamily developer in the Southeastern U.S. In the Tampa Bay area, it is under development on a new community in Pinellas Park, on a site that was once home to the Golden Lantern Mobile Home Park.

The property is less than four miles from the Tampa Innovation District, which is home to the University of South Florida, the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center and the USF Research Park. Amazon.com is building a massive new fulfillment center in nearby Temple Terrace.

“Multifamily housing adds to the diversity of housing stock for current and new residents and we are excited about being involved in this project," Surak said in a statement.