Auto dealer pays nearly $45 million for Tampa shopping center

The Corner at Westshore, across from International Plaza, sold to owner of local VW and Audi franchises.

By Louis Llovio
| 5:00 p.m. April 20, 2022
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

FILE: The Corner at Westshore was sold for $44.5 million.

Tampa Bay-Lakeland

One of the most prominent shopping centers in Tampa has sold for $44.5 million.

The 67,019-square-foot The Corner at Westshore was sold to automobile dealer Bruce Qvale, who bought the property as part of a 1031 Exchange. The property is in the Westshore District, across the street from International Plaza and home to retailers and restaurants including The Container Store, Olive Garden, AT&T and Sleep Number.

According to the commercial real estate brokerage Franklin Street, the $664-per-square-foot sale price is one of the biggest sales in the market for some time.

“It’s not quite record pricing, as some shopping centers have traded above $700 (per-square-foot). However, those were more like lifestyle and neighborhood centers with grocery anchors, which I would put into a different category," a spokesperson for the firm says in a email.

Franklin Street, which represented the seller, will lease and manage the property.

Qvale runs Qvale Auto Group which owns Volkswagen Brandon and Audi Lakeland.

The center sits at West Spruce Street and North Westshore Boulevard, one of the busiest corners in Tampa with heavy traffic from travelers staying at one of a half dozen hotels within walking distance and daily commuters heading toward the Courtney Campbell Causeway, Interstate 275 or the Veterans Expressway. That’s in addition to being within a couple of miles of the airport and several apartment communities.

The 6.67-acre property was developed by Saber Real Estate Advisors ARC Trust, the sellers in the deal. Work was completed in 2014.

The property is actually made up of two centers — The Corner at Westshore 1 and 2.

Phase 1, which is 39,733 square feet, includes The Container Store, Sleep Number, Loli’s Mexican Cravings and Bank United. And Phase 2, which is 27,286 square feet, includes Olive Garden, Gym Source, LongHorn Steakhouse, Pei Wei and AT&T.

Franklin Street says The Corner is fully leased. The lease terms have more than 10 years left with built-in increases. There are also two billboards on the property.