Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Talk of the bay

Momentum building for more offices in Tampa's Westshore

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published January 16, 2006

With vacancy rates shrinking in Tampa's Westshore District, observers wonder when the cork's going to pop on new office construction. Much of the speculation centers on Crescent Resources, developer of Corporate Center at International Plaza.

Crescent scored big with the first three buildings, home to such local corporate heavyweights as Outback Steakhouse, Walter Industries and the Carlton Fields law firm. Crescent plans two more Corporate Center offices, smaller versions of the originals, said Ron Ruffner, development director for Tampa.

Also in the works are two 300,000-square-foot offices - much like Corporate Center Two and Three - across Boy Scout Boulevard at the developer's Cornerstone Plaza project.

Westshore appears ripe for new building with a vacancy rate of just 8 percent for top-shelf, class A office space. But skyrocketing construction material costs will push rents for new buildings to about $30 per square foot, a few bucks higher than similar existing space.

"I don't know that Tampa's there yet," Ruffner said. "But this has got to be the best market where nothing's being built."

[Last modified January 13, 2006, 17:56:02]