Exclusive: ConnectWise confirms HQ move to downtown Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 16, 2021

ConnectWise will move its headquarters to downtown Tampa and take signage rights atop the city's oldest office tower.

The Tampa software company has confirmed that it signed a long-term lease for 65,500 square feet in Park Tower — floors 12, 23, 24 and 25 as well as retail space on the street level — with a short-term option to grow its footprint as large as 73,000 square feet. The Tampa Bay Business Journal first reported that ConnectWise had signed a lease in Park Tower on July 6.

The 475,000-square-foot Park Tower was Tampa's first downtown office tower; it was built in 1973. It sits at the intersection of Kennedy Boulevard and Tampa Street.

The new headquarters will have seating for 325 to 375 employees each day. ConnectWise has a hybrid work model, meaning employees split their work hours between the office and remote locations. The office will have a mix of permanently assigned seats and flexible hotel seating; ConnectWise says it anticipates between 35 percent and 40 percent of employees will have permanent seats.

The street-level storefront will be a showroom for ConnectWise, which has christened the space the "ConnectWise Center of Excellence." The company describes it as "a multipurpose showcase and exhibition space, enabling local prospects and all visitors to ConnectWise to get firsthand experience and demonstrations of the company’s end-to-end platform of solutions and services in action."

ConnectWise is in a small, elite class of Tampa-grown unicorns — companies with a valuation of more than $1 billion. Founded in Tampa by brothers Arnie and David Bellini in 1982, it sold to a Silicon Valley private equity firm in 2019. Arnie Bellini is now on a mission to invest in startups in the area.

The lease is a watershed deal for a post-Covid office market. Office tenants throughout Tampa Bay have been adding short-term extensions to existing leases as executives grapple with flexible work environments and their space requirements. ConnectWise's lease — which is large by Tampa Bay standards, where the average office lease is 10,000 to 20,000 square feet — is an endorsement of both the city center and traditional office space.

Jimmy Garvey of Cushman and Wakefield Inc. and Ryan Reynolds of CBRE Group Inc. represented ConnectWise in the lease. Baharea Larsen and Kelley Iaquinta of Feldman Equities represented the tower's ownership, which is a joint venture of Feldman Equities, Tower Realty Partners and City Office REIT.

“Despite Covid-19, demand for quality buildings with modernized systems and high-quality finishes remains strong in Tampa Bay," Larsen said in a statement. "These tenants are making a long-term investment in their businesses and know they need to plan for a return to normalcy.”

ConnectWise expects to complete the move to downtown Tampa in 2022. Its current headquarters is in Independence Park, a low-rise office building on the fringe of the Westshore business district. The company occupies 50,300 square feet there, said Elizabeth Bassler, ConnectWise spokeswoman.

“This move is designed to help build brand awareness and solidify ConnectWise as a beacon in the Tampa business and technology scene," CEO Jason Magee said in a statement. "We also believe it’s important to prioritize working with local businesses to help build out the new space and support the Tampa economy."

Park Tower's signage rights became available in 2020 after the merger of BB&T Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc. BB&T leased 51,500 square feet in the tower and had signage rights for several years, but the merged bank, Truist, consolidated in the SunTrust Financial Centre.

The joint venture that owns the tower acquired it in November 2016 and kicked off a multimillion-dollar renovation that wrapped up in 2019. The renovations included a new lobby, a sidewalk replacement, a high-end fitness center with a cycling room, lockers and showers, a tenant lounge, a Buddy Brew coffee shop on the first floor that's accessible via the lobby, and extensive upgrades to the elevators, circulation corridors, elevator landings and restrooms.

“Park Tower is now the go-to option in downtown Tampa for companies looking to attract and retain Tampa’s most talented workers," Larsen said.