Back in the Box

Empty big-box stores in the Tampa Bay area present opportunities for expanding retailers and other groups looking to lease large space at reasonable rates. That includes shops that are new to the market that can open more quickly than investing in new construction.

Nordstrom Rack, a clearance center for the well-known department store chain, found what appears to be a perfect spot in a vacant 45,000-square-foot Circuit City location at Walter's Crossing shopping center, at the Interstate 275/Dale Mabry Highway interchange in Tampa. The store was still fairly new when the electronics giant went out of business in 2009, and Nordstrom Rack opened last October.

It's the first location for the discounter on the Gulf Coast, and it continues to draw crowds to Walter's Crossing, which itself has had a history of fits and starts.

Tampa developer Ken Morin built the $48 million, 350,000-square-foot center in the early 2000s after buying the 13-acre site that was the longtime twin-tower headquarters of Walter Industries (now Walter Energy). The economy and permitting issues stymied the project several times, but it eventually opened in 2005, highlighted by a second-story Target store with direct parking garage access.

However, Morin ran into problems keeping up the mortgage on Walter's Crossing and ended up selling it the following year for $35 million to Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Real Estate Corp. More trouble followed, with Circuit City and fellow anchor Linens 'n Things both closing at approximately the same time.

The opening of Nordstrom Rack has helped Walter's Crossing rebound as a viable retail center on Tampa's west side. Other marquee tenants include Whole Foods, PetSmart and The Home Depot, along with outparcels such as Rooms to Go, Total Wine and Macaroni Grill.

Several other retail concepts new to the Bay area are scouting big-box spaces left behind by bankrupt tenants, according to local retail experts. With overall occupancy in the high-80% range and current asking rents just above $13 per square foot, the timing is favorable for new tenants.

“We are in absorption mode right now,” says Ben McLeish, director of retail services for Colliers International Tampa Bay. “Rents have bottomed out and are starting to come back. Smart, aggressive landlords are going to be in a position to do deals.”

Examples of newer tenants in the market backfilling existing spaces include L.A. Fitness taking up 42,000 square feet formerly occupied by Publix near Tyrone Mall in St. Petersburg, as well as an old Winn-Dixie in New Port Richey, and West Marine moving into a former 25,000-square-foot Linens 'n Things, also near Tyrone.

But it isn't just retailers considering those spaces: charitable organizations, churches, schools and office users are also in the mix. For example, a 28,000-square-foot Habitat for Humanity ReStore is set to open this summer in a long-vacant Jumbo Sports store near Ulmerton Road and 49th Street in Pinellas County.

“Landlords have really opened the door to some of these big boxes,” observes Patrick Berman, senior director of retail brokerage at Cushman & Wakefield in Tampa.