Miami real estate firm expands to St. Pete's Central Arts District with $11 million ICON deal
By Lauren Coffey
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 28, 2021

Tricera Capital, a Miami-based real estate investment firm, has acquired a ground-floor retail space in St. Petersburg’s Central Arts District for $11 million.

The space is in Related Group's newly finished ICON Central Development. Roughly 7,000 square feet of its space is already leased to BurgerFi and Watts Dental.

Included in Tricera's space is the adjoining Union Trust Bank building. Combined, the retail and bank building space totals nearly 35,000 square feet.

The deal closed Tuesday, according to a release. Tricera obtained $9.9 million in financing, arranged by Berkadia Miami and Berkadia Orlando. Law firm Polsinelli represented Tricera in the transaction.

“This acquisition perfectly complements our existing Central Avenue and broader downtown St. Pete portfolio,” Ben Mandell, Tricera co-founder and managing principal, said in a statement. "The location allows us to benefit from the dense office and residential surrounding the property, and also gives us the ability to fully take advantage of the retail synergy in conjunction with our other holdings in the market.”

Tricera owns more than a dozen downtown St. Pete properties. It is looking at operators across industries, including service-oriented retailers, entertainment, fitness and food and beverage brands.

“We are long-term believers in downtown St. Petersburg and continue to target acquisition opportunities,” Tricera Co-Founder and Managing Principal Scott Sherman said. “It is particularly exciting that even with the area’s incredible recent activity, there is still so much potential for further growth in the years ahead.”