Argos USA buys Tampa plant as part of Vulcan Materials acquisition

BUYER: Argos Cement LLC (principals: Eric Flesch, Scott Morkem and Mark Prybylski), Alpharetta, Ga.
SELLER: Florida Rock Industries Inc.
PROPERTY: 2001 Maritime Blvd., Tampa
PRICE: $13.67 million
PREVIOUS PRICE: $8.41 million, August 2003
LAW FIRM ON DEED: Broad and Cassel, West Palm Beach

PLANS, DESCRIPTION:
Atlanta area cement and concrete manufacturer/supplier Argos USA purchased a 50.03-acre cement and gravel plant for $13.67 million.

The price equated to $104 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for industrial space ($41) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The industrial site on Sparkman Channel features 12 buildings with a total of 131,131 square feet, according to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's office.

Argos acquired the property along with the other Florida and South Georgia cement and ready-mix assets of Vulcan Materials Co. for $720 million.

The total acquisition included two grinding facilities and marine terminals in Tampa and Port Manatee with a combined installed capacity of 1.85 million tons per year; 69 ready-mix concrete plants with a fleet of 372 mixer trucks and an annual production capacity of 4.3 million cubic yards; and 13 concrete block production plants with a capacity of 109 million units per year. The sale also covered an integrated dry-process cement plant in Newberry with an installed capacity of 1.6 million tons per year and more than 700 employees.

This purchase is expected to increase Argos' production by 3.5 million metric tons of cement and 4.3 million cubic yards of concrete per year within Florida.

Argos is now one of the top producers of cement in the southeast United States and among the 20 largest cement companies in the world.

Argos USA's parent Cementos Argos S.A. operates cement and concrete production plants located throughout Colombia, Central America, the Caribbean and the United States.