Pinellas Park shopping center sells for $85 million
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Oct 17, 2022

A Pinellas Park developer has acquired The Shoppes at Park Place for $85 million.

Belleair Development Group has closed on the 370,000-square-foot outdoor shopping center at 7200 US Hwy. 19 N in Pinellas Park. It sits on 11 parcels totaling 42 acres. The company also took out a $51 million mortgage with Voya Investment Management on Oct. 7. The Target Corp. store in the center was not part of the transaction; the Minneapolis-based retailer owns that real estate.

The seller was a Texas-based asset manager who took title to the property in 2020 as a result of a foreclosure lawsuit, according to Pinellas County property records.

BDG said in a news release that it is “exploring options for future plans that include the development of a hotel on site as well as a potential multifamily residential component.”

The shopping center is nearly 100% occupied, and there are ongoing negotiations to fill the remaining space. Additional retail could be added to the property, and BDG said it is exploring a potential collaboration with the city of Pinellas Park to meet the needs of the community.

Conn’s Home Furnishings opened in July. Academy Sports + Outdoors is finishing construction at the center and will be open by the end of the year. Other shops like Michaels Arts & Crafts, Marshall’s, Petco, Famous Footwear and Dollar General are among the tenants on the property, along with Applebee’s, Starbucks, Panera Bread and BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse and banks like Wells Fargo and PNC.

Christian Yepes, BDG co-owner, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that his firm had been looking at the plaza for a long time before it came on the market.

“We knew the prior owners and have always thought highly of the center,” Yepes said.

Yepes said while the pandemic has revealed different shopping trends and behaviors, this center continues to report high attendance. Yepes said the Regal Cinema — which Yepes said is high-performing for the chain — paired with the restaurants and in-demand retail at the center drives daily foot traffic at the property. He said of the approximately 5 million visitors per year, 3.7 million are repeat customers of five or more visits.

Yepes said BDG has a history of development on Park Boulevard, which runs along the edge of the property. Over the years, BDG has built approximately 80,000 square feet of retail development along the street.

"We have a pretty good idea of what community responds well to and what they don’t,” Yepes said. “With the health of the community at the forefront of our mindset, we wanted to look at what a healthy addition to the center might be. We do not want to knock anything down; we don’t want to remove any of the structures that are there. We just want to explore the opportunity to add to what is already there.”

While he said there is obviously a certain amount of need for parking, many of the approximately 5 million visitors the shopping center receives each year visit more than one store at a time, which gives some flexibility on the site. He said more than 80% of the visitors each year live within 2 miles of the site, and Belleair Development Group wants to make sure they “continue the pattern of doing what’s right at the right time.”