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Airport could get lift from land deal

There could be more noise coming from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, from construction equipment if not jet engines.

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published September 30, 2005

Highwoods Properties has signed an option to lease a 91/2-acre waterfront site at the airport with the intent to build office buildings, a hotel or manufacturing facilities for one or more tenants.

The site is attractive because there's not much prime commercial development space left in Pinellas County and the airport is so close to the Bayside Bridge and Roosevelt Boulevard, said Steve Meyers, vice president of Highwoods' Tampa division.

The deal comes at a good time for the airport, which took a hit in the last year with the departure of its two largest carriers, ATA Airlines and now-defunct Southeast Airlines of Largo.

Passenger traffic plummeted 42 percent to about 775,000 for the fiscal year that ends today. The airport expects that number to drop to 462,000 in the coming year.

Revenues for the fiscal year are projected to rise 8 percent to nearly $10-million but only because of a $1.8-million federal grant to make up for losses from the airlines' departures, said airport spokeswoman Michele Routh.

Highwoods will pay the airport $2,500 a month during the 18-month lease option on the site of the old Turtle Club, a bar and restaurant that closed five years ago. If the company goes ahead with the 50-year lease, the rent rises to $116,800 a year, said Bob Humberstone, the airport's real estate director.

One of the Southeast's largest real estate companies, Highwoods has received inquiries from potential office tenants, manufacturers and a company seeking a hotel location, Meyers said.

--Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or 813 226-3384.

[Last modified September 30, 2005, 01:35:17]