Parkway Properties, big investors in Florida office and industrial properties, merges with Houston firm
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 10, 2023

One of Florida's most active real estate investment firms has merged with Houston-based Midway Holdings LP.

Orlando-based Parkway Property Investments LLC, which has been active in Tampa through multiple iterations of the company, owns downtown office tower 501 E. Kennedy and Cypress Centers I, II, III and V in the Westshore business district. Parkway is the developer of Lakeland Central Park, a mixed-use development anchored by 5 million square feet of industrial space.

This version of Parkway is an offshoot of a real estate investment trust that owns the five Corporate Center office buildings that front International Plaza. Atlanta-based Cousins Properties bought the previous version of Parkway for $2 billion.

Parkway has properties throughout the U.S. with a focus on the Sun Belt; Midway's portfolio is concentrated in Texas.

"We believe the rapid and ongoing evolution in how people choose to live, work and seek entertainment presents amazing opportunities for our combined resources," Jayson Lipsey, CEO of Parkway, said in a statement. "Midway's extraordinary development and placemaking capabilities, together with Parkway's broad capital market expertise, will provide the scale, efficiency and financial strength to engage and respond proactively to these trends and drive enhanced stakeholder value through market cycles."

The combined company will operate under the Parkway name and be based in Houston. The integration should be complete by the third quarter, and the combined company will have 300 employees and assets in 13 markets across Texas, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Arizona, Colorado and California.

"Together, we are stronger and better positioned to drive meaningful market share gains, sustainable growth and value creation," James Heistand, Parkway chairman, said in a statement. "We look forward to bringing our talented teams together to unlock the tremendous potential of this compelling new company."