Tampa investors buy United Cab's North Hyde Park property, adding to assemblage
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 11, 2024

United Cab's North Hyde Park property has been sold to a Tampa real estate developer who has been assembling properties in the neighborhood for years.

Rocwell Development, led by Justin Basil, paid $4.4 million for United Cab's .9-acre property at North Rome Avenue and West Cass Street, according to Hillsborough County property records. Rocwell also picked up two other properties totaling .33 acres along West Lemon Street, directly west of the United Cab property, for $2.05 million. United Cab filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2023.

Basil was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday. On its website, Rocwell lists the project as "vacant land for redevelopment." No plans have been filed with Tampa's building and planning departments.

The United Cab and West Lemon Street properties are Rocwell's latest acquisitions in North Hyde Park. In 2022, Rocwell acquired the properties at 1713, 1711 and 1709 W. Cass St., which total .33 acres and are directly west of United Cab's property and south of the West Lemon Street properties. Demolition permits for Rocwell's holdings on the 1700 block of West Cass Street — two single-family residences and one multifamily residence — were filed in 2023, according to city building records.

Rocwell, using multiple corporate entities, owns other properties throughout North Hyde Park, including 1212 Cass St. and 1910 W. Cass St. It also owns smaller, one-off properties throughout the city and the suburbs, including the former Truist Bank branch at West San Rafael Street and South MacDill Avenue near Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club.

North Hyde Park, once a largely industrial area, has seen an influx of development in the last decade. The neighborhood has drawn the interest of high-profile developers and investors throughout the Southeast. Thousands of apartments have been built and sold in North Hyde Park since 2013, and the area has drawn commercial investment as well. Asana Partners, known for edgy, retail-forward projects in up-and-coming neighborhoods, bought three warehouses in North Hyde Park in 2022. Willa's, a restaurant and cafe, opened there in 2021; Sukha Club Inc., a fitness facility, opened in 2023.