Heights Union office buildings sold for blistering price
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 4, 2021

The Tampa office development that recently landed deals with Pfizer Inc. and DoubleLine Capital has sold to a household name in Tampa's commercial real estate circles.

Atlanta-based Cousins Properties paid $144.8 million for the 294,000-square-foot Heights Union, which is in the Armature Works-anchored mixed-use Heights district. Cousins (NYSE: CUZ) already owns some prominent Tampa office properties: The Corporate Center buildings near International Plaza as well as Harborview Plaza and The Pointe on Rocky Point.

At $492 per square foot, Tampa commercial real estate observers say the deal is a record for an office sale in the city. Heights Union, which consists of two six-story office buildings, was developed by a partnership of Atlanta-based TPA Group and Heights master developer SoHo Capital, which is based in Tampa.

That pricing for office property is particularly remarkable in 2021, as the Covid-19 pandemic made remote work and working from home more commonplace than ever before. Cousins' purchase signals that it sees value in the future of office space generally and in Tampa's corporate real estate in particular. Cousins announced the deal the same day that Big Four accounting firm PwC said it will allow 40,000 U.S. to permanently work from home.

"Heights Union represents a compelling opportunity to acquire a unique property in an emerging submarket with an outstanding rent roll," Colin Connolly, president and CEO of Cousins, said in a statement. "We continue to respond to what our customers are telling us they want — authentic, efficient and interesting properties in highly amenitized locations that appeal to their employees."

Heights Union was one of three multitenant office buildings delivering new space to the Tampa market in 2021, alongside Water Street Tampa's Thousand & One and Midtown West at Midtown Tampa. Heights Union signed a 75,000-square-foot lease with AxoGen in 2018, several months before it broke ground.

In early 2019, coworking giant WeWork announced plans for a location in Heights Union. WeWork iced those plans in 2020, but its exit didn't have any effect on leasing efforts at Heights Union.

Life science tenants represent 66% of the building's rent roll, according to Cousins' presentation to investors. Beyond Pfizer, AxoGen and DoubleLine, law firm White and Case also leases 40,000 square feet in the building for a global operations center. Overall, Heights Union is 93% leased and 35% occupied, according to Cousins.