East Tampa warehouse lands city's biggest industrial lease of 2021
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 2, 2021

An East Tampa warehouse has signed a 206,382-square-foot tenant, marking the city's largest industrial lease of 2021.

Gopher Resource LLC will consolidate two existing distribution facilities at 1820 Massaro Blvd., in a space that was previously occupied by Refresco Beverages before the company moved to a larger building. Gopher recycles batteries, though the East Tampa warehouse will be used solely for distribution, said Robyn Hurrell, managing director at Colliers Tampa Bay.

Hurrell led the Colliers team — including Ryan Vaught and Oliver de la Croix-Vaubois — who represented the landlord, a Canadian investor. Kostas Stoilas of Fortress Commercial Real Estate represented Gopher.

Gopher committed to a five-year lease, Hurrell said, and will vacate facilities on Adamo Drive and Falkenburg Road to consolidate at the Massaro property. The warehouse, which is also home to Kroger Co.'s warehouse for grocery delivery in the Tampa Bay area, has about 100,000 square feet of vacancy still available.

"We've only had it back for about seven months since Refresco moved into a larger building," Hurrell said. "Since we’ve had it back, we've had a temporary occupier in 65 percent of it, so we’ve done pretty well in keeping the asset cash flowing."