Baltimore developer enters Florida with regional Tampa office
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 13, 2023

A Baltimore real estate developer has opened a Florida office in Tampa with plans to pursue projects in Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco and Polk counties.

St. John Properties develops single-story and mid-rise office buildings, retail space and flex buildings, which can accommodate both office and industrial tenants. The developer has set up an office in Industrious, a coworking facility in Truist Place in downtown Tampa.

The firm is focused on speculative development and this year declared a goal of building 1 million square feet speculatively, reports the Baltimore Business Journal, a sister news organization. In 2022, St. John opened offices in Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Michael Sacks, who moved from the developer’s headquarters in Baltimore to Tampa, has been named regional partner. He will oversee site and property acquisition, development, construction, marketing and leasing, and property management.

The developer’s average tenant size is 6,000 square feet, Sacks said in a statement.

“We are eager to establish and develop relationships with local business leaders and commercial real estate professionals and introduce our unique business and operational model to Florida,” Sacks said. “The post-pandemic economy has spurred the development of thousands of acres of residential communities and large-scale warehouse product to serve the expanding e-commerce sector, but there has been a corresponding lag in the construction of [flexible office and industrial] product, which remains our specialty.”

Lawrence Maykrantz, CEO of St. John, said his firm was drawn to Tampa by its “welcoming business environment, continued growth, highly educated workforce and availability of land.”

“We expect the noticeable business and population migration to the Southeast section of the country to persist and envision tremendous opportunities, particularly along the Interstate 4 corridor connecting Tampa and Orlando,” Maykrantz said.