Clearwater's Traub, investors developing Trinity office building

BUYER: JSM Fifty-Four LLC (principal: Joel Traub), Clearwater

SELLER: Trinity Corporate Holdings Ltd.

PROPERTY: 11300 State Road 54 and additional land, New Port Richey

PRICE: $1.03 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Hobby & Hobby PA, New Port Richey

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: An investor group led by Clearwater developer Joel Traub purchased 2.56 acres in Trinity Corporate Center for $1.03 million.

The price equated to $400,391 per acre.

The buyer has already started construction to develop a 21,500-square-foot professional office building. Wells Fargo Advisors will be the anchor tenant in the new building, leasing 8,100 square feet.

“It's a single-story building, but because we are using tilt-wall construction we will have a 19-foot face on the front,” Traub says. “It will be a very modern contemporary building with a lot of impact-resistant glass. We are very bullish on that location. We liked the confluence with the hospital opening up and with what Pasco did to [eliminate] the impact fees for traffic. Saving $200,000 pays for a lot of debit service.”

He says the impact fee savings encouraged the investor group to construct a larger building.

Hennessy Construction Services is the general contractor for the project.

The Wells Fargo portion of the building is scheduled to open in May.

Steven Klein of Klein & Heuchan Realtors has been retained to market the remaining building space for lease.

Dewey Mitchell and Renee Dyer of Prudential Commercial Real Estate FL handled the transaction.

Dyer sees the most recent purchase as an example of the 74-acre Trinity Corporate Center regaining interest.

“It took us four years to get it permitted,” she says. “It was a real mess to go through and we ended up losing 80% of the lots we had under contract. But recently there's been a resurgence. We sold lots 1 through 4 to Morton Plant Mease Health [Care Inc.] We are closing next week on lot 12, and I expect to close in 90 days on lots 10, 11 and the back half of 39 and 40.”

The majority of the lots in the park are for retail use.