TECO to leave downtown, move headquarters to Midtown Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 6, 2022

Tampa Electric Co. plans to move its headquarters out of the urban core to a new office tower within Midtown Tampa.

Real estate sources, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the deal, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that TECO plans to anchor Midtown East, a 17-story, 459,795-square-foot office tower that developer Bromley Cos. unveiled earlier this year.

Plans for Midtown East filed with the city in October show that a single tenant — TECO, according to real estate sources — will occupy 292,180 square feet in the tower. TECO's current headquarters, on North Franklin Street in downtown Tampa, is 285,621 square feet. That property is owned by Bradenton-based Benderson Realty Development Inc.

The utility's downtown office lease expires in 2025, TECO spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs told the Business Journal earlier this year. That timing would align with the headquarters move; if Midtown East breaks ground in early 2023, tenants could likely take occupancy in late 2025.

Jacobs declined to comment on the move Monday.

The deal TECO is nearing with Bromley and Highwood Properties, which partnered with Bromley on Midtown's first office tower, could be an office condominium structure that allows TECO to own its space in the tower, sources said.

TECO is among the largest employers in the Tampa Bay region with a head count of 2,500, though not all those jobs are office based. Signing TECO as the majority occupier — or owner-occupier, if a condo deal has been reached — would make financing the tower feasible. Midtown Tampa's first office tower, Midtown West, landed two headquarters deals from within Tampa: Kforce Inc. and Primo Water.

Midtown is a 22-acre, mixed-use district at the intersection of Interstate 275 and North Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. In addition to office space, it includes a dual-flag hotel and dozens of retailers, including Whole Foods Market Inc. and REI. The apartments in Midtown sold for more than $600,000 per unit in May — a record for the Tampa Bay market.

Bromley CEO Nick Haines declined comment Monday evening. Highwoods market president Dan Woodward did not respond to a request for comment.