Dohring Group buys new building in downtown Tampa, changes name
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Feb 3, 2022

The Dohring Group, a boutique commercial real estate firm, will remain in downtown Tampa after selling its longtime headquarters building to a South Florida condo developer.

The Dohring Group — which is changing its name to Dohring Ahern Appraisal and Brokerage — has paid $3.6 million for the 10,759-square-foot building at 1110 N. Florida Ave. Condo developer Kolter Group purchased the firm’s building at 518 N. Tampa St. in December; the building is part of an assemblage of properties where Kolter plans to build hundreds of luxury condos.

The firm’s appraisal and brokerage divisions will make the move, as will RealWired, an appraisal software company owned by Brenda Dohring Hicks that was also housed on North Tampa Street.

Abbey Dohring Ahern, principal of the firm’s commercial brokerage division, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that the historic building on North Tampa Street wasn’t structurally sound. When a different developer proposed a condo tower on the vacant lot directly adjacent to her family’s building in 2019, they learned through third-party consultants that their building wouldn’t survive construction.

Before that, Ahern said she never imagined selling that building. She’d started cleaning the family offices as a 12-year-old and had envisioned someday converting the top floor to her residence.

“I’ve shed so many tears,” she said. “It didn’t seem like something we’d ever let go, but things change, and it was time to let Tampa grow.”

Bamboozle and Moxies Cafe, Ahern’s longtime tenants in the North Tampa building, are finalizing plans for new locations in downtown Tampa, she said.

There are six tenants in the Florida Avenue building, and all will remain in place. Buying that building is a full-circle moment for Ahern. The building was one of the first she listed for sale as a young broker; it sold in 2008 for $1.85 million.

The firm’s name change also has personal significance for Ahern, who hopes that her children someday take an interest in the family business.

“A lot of it was legacy-based, which sounds pretty cheesy,” she said, “but I have three little boys.”