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New owners aim to revive Park Tower

The office skyscraper has lost some of its gleam since the 1970s, but investors say they'll work fast to correct problems.

By JAMES THORNER
Published January 17, 2006

TAMPA - Park Tower, a 36-story downtown Tampa landmark once trumpeted as the third tallest building in Florida, has sold for $50-million to investors led by the owner of the New York Mets baseball team.

Fred Wilpon, who owns the Major League Baseball franchise and Sterling American Property Inc., paid cash for the 32-year-old skyscraper at 400 N Tampa St. The deal closed Wednesday.

Wilpon's company promises multimillion-dollar renovations to the glass, stone and bronzed aluminum tower.

Also known as the Lykes Building, its tenants include Lykes Bros. Inc., the U.S. Attorney's office and the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"Tampa seemed the natural place for our next large project because of the resurgence of downtown Tampa. We are excited about restoring this prominent historic building to its rightful place in the Tampa skyline," said L. Thomas Osterman, executive vice president of Sterling American.

With leases set to expire within two years on about a third of the building's 475,000 square feet of offices, Sterling will work fast to correct bugs afflicting the building, vice president Matt Harvey said.

The 460-foot tower's concrete crown is no longer the gleaming showpiece owners used to illuminate with spotlights.

Dark brown wood panels mark the lobby as a throwback to the 1970s.

Central air conditioning is hit and miss, and tenants can't rely on the 12 original elevators to deliver them to the correct floors.

"The tenants suggest there's a ghost riding the elevators with you," Harvey joked.

When the building was dedicated in November 1973 as First Financial Tower, it was among the most modern in Florida.

Its black and brown skin of thermo-glass and aggregate stone filled a city block.

Roof terrace dining and an upper-story executive fitness center were among the selling points for its first and biggest tenant, First National Bank of Tampa.

Then-Mayor Dick Greco praised the building as a symbol of the city's "second renaissance," the first renaissance being riverfront slum clearances of the 1960s.

In announcing last week's purchase, Wilpon's company promised to stand at the forefront of another "downtown renaissance" that would make Tampa a business and social hub.

Its partner on the deal is Colliers Arnold, a local real estate company that promised to provide the local expertise Sterling couldn't muster with its billions of dollars of real estate spread across dozens of states.

Colliers Arnold will manage and lease the property.

"We believe the office market is a very good place to be," said Lee Arnold, founder of Colliers Arnold. "There hasn't been a lot of commercial office space built in quite a while. Everything's focused on condo development."

For years, Park Tower was part of Tampa developer Jack Wilson's empire. Wilson died in December after a battle with Alzheimer's disease.

A national marketing campaign last year brought the property to Sterling's attention.

The tower's new owner specializes in buying and upgrading "class B buildings at great locations" with "vacancy or rollover risk," Harvey said.

At about $19 per square foot, the building is less expensive to lease than many of its competitors.

Wilpon made his name buying and renovating apartments in Brooklyn. He folded many of his profits into the New York Mets, of which he's the principal owner and chief executive.

But unlike two other tycoons with New York-to-Tampa links - George Steinbrenner and Donald Trump - Wilpon is less apt to crave the limelight.

"He's very low-key and flies under the radar screen," Harvey said of his boss.

[Last modified January 17, 2006, 01:24:05]