Northern Trust moving from downtown Tampa to Water Street
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 30, 2022

The Tampa branch of a national wealth management firm will move its office from the central business district to Water Street.

Northern Trust Corp. has signed a lease for 10,000 square feet on the ninth floor of Thousand & One, an office tower within the mixed-use Water Street district. The Chicago-based company's current Tampa office is at 425 N. Florida Ave., where it leases 16,000 square feet that will be available in early 2023, according to CoStar Group Inc.

An office lease of 10,000 square feet is average in the Tampa Bay market. The majority of leases here are between 10,000 and 20,000 square feet.

Water Street developer Strategic Property Partners announced the lease on Tuesday. SPP is controlled by Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and Cascade Investment LLC, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' investment fund.

Cushman & Wakefield Inc. markets Thousand & One for lease for SPP. Thousand & One broke ground speculatively in 2019, the first multitenant office building to rise in downtown Tampa in a quarter century. Since then, the building has signed leases with ReliaQuest, Sila Realty Trust, Synovus, RSM and Suffolk Construction.

“This move is a continuation of Northern Trust’s decades-long investment in the Tampa Bay community,” Dan Honegger, Tampa Bay president for Northern Trust Wealth Management, said in a statement. “We are looking forward to serving our clients in the fully modernized suites at Thousand & One, which will provide enhanced meeting space, room for future growth and access to a rooftop terrace for special events.”

Dave Bevirt, who oversees SPP's corporate leasing strategy, said in a statement that Water Street has become Tampa's new "financial center."

“The new lifestyle opportunity we’ve created here is the best tool for recruiting and retaining talent," Bevirt said, "and we’re seeing robust interest from financial service companies like Northern Trust looking to expand to Water Street Tampa to become part of this newly established financial center in the city.”