Honeywell to sell building near U.S. 19

Buyers have a choice of two sites - one is 102,000 square feet, the other 120,000 - but only one will be sold. No price has been set.

By AMELIA DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2000

LARGO -- Companies looking for office space along the busy U.S. 19 corridor in mid-Pinellas may find what they need on the Honeywell site at Ulmerton Road.

Honeywell spokeswoman Gail Compton said two of seven plant buildings are for sale. However, once one building sells, the other will be taken off the market.

"We thought we would give people a choice," she said.

One building is slightly bigger than the other: 102,000 square feet compared with 120,000 square feet.

Then there is the matter of location. The smaller building is near U.S. 19 and Ulmerton Road. The larger building is on 126th Avenue. The smaller building is the older, built in the early 1960s. The larger one was completed in the early 1970s.

"Both are in excellent condition," said John Dunphy, with Colliers Arnold, the commercial brokerage firm marketing the property. "Honeywell takes extremely good care of its property."

Neither building carries a price tag yet, Dunphy said. The company is having the buildings appraised. "But we feel they will bring somewhere in the area of $60 a square foot," he said.

Compton said the buildings are currently used by engineers, high tech employees and office workers who can be accommodated in other buildings on the campus once one of the buildings is sold.

She said a recent company study showed Honeywell could divest itself of one building, thereby reducing operating costs, and still have adequate room for expansion.

As late as 1989, Honeywell employed about 4,000 people in Pinellas. Compton said the current number of employees is about 1,800.

Honeywell has played a major role in the economy of Pinellas County since the 1950s. Once a major contractor for NASA, the company now makes thermostats, air cleaners and climate-control systems for homes and commercial buildings as well as industrial controls and aircraft guidance systems.

Compton said the decision to sell the property was made before Honeywell's recent sale to AlliedSignal for $15-billion.

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