Teknia Networks expanding to St. Pete Lock Up building

BUYER: St. Pete 18th Street Warehouse LLC (principals: Joseph Caruso, Esq., John Monsalve, Jack Lobianco and Charles Maimone Jr.), St. Petersburg
SELLER: Lock Up St. Petersburg LLC
PROPERTY: 155 17th St. S., St. Petersburg
PRICE: $1.25 million

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: St. Pete 18th Street Warehouse LLC purchased the 50,000-square-foot Lock Up industrial building for $1.25 million.

The price equated to $25 per square foot. That figure is lower than the two-year average price per square foot for industrial space ($46) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

Lock Up St. Petersburg, a subsidiary of BRB Development LLC, purchased the building in 2007. The structure features two stories of air-conditioned, self-storage space on the northern side with the remainder of the building used for warehousing, assembly or other commercial uses.

Teknia Networks, which buys, refurbishes and resells printing/scanning machinery and equipment, has agreed to lease the building. The main reason for the move came down to the need for more space than was available at its existing 18,000-square-foot Clearwater location, according to Jorge Monsalve, president of Teknia Networks and a member of the company that purchased the building.

“We needed a high-power facility, and we needed the space,” he says. “We plan to invest about $5 million, on top of buying the building, equipping it.”

Teknia Networks plans to open the St. Petersburg location in January.

Pat Marzulli of Colliers International Tampa Bay represented the seller.

“This property was one of the largest remaining spaces in the general downtown area around Tropicana Field,” Marzulli says in a press release. “The sale is an example of the attractiveness of acquiring an owner-user facility in this low interest-rate environment.”