Echo Realty enters Florida via Tampa

TAMPA— Pittsburgh-based Echo Realty LP purchased the 100,200-square-foot Westgate Plaza in Citrus Park from Kimco for $11.24 million.

The price equated to $112 per square foot. That figure is lower than the two-year average price per square foot for retail space ($146) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The center, located at 12020 Anderson Road, Tampa, is anchored by a 55,000-square-foot Publix grocery store and 8,003-square-foot Dollar Tree. Other tenants include a 4,198-square-foot Winners Grill, 3,000-square-foot Greenberg Dental & Orthodontics, 2,636-square-foot HoneyBaked Ham, 2,175-square-foot Twisted Lime Spirits, 2,007-square-foot Pizza Hut and 2,000-square-foot Fashion Nails. It had a single vacancy at the time of the sale.

The acquisition marks Echo Realty's entry to the Florida market. To date, the company has only invested in retail properties in the mid-Atlantic(Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) and Ohio, but more recently it has been looking to expand into Florida , according to Howard Biel, senior vice-president of acquisitions and development for Echo Realty.

“With Westgate we were drawn to a number of different things,” Biel says. “We love doing business with the Publix supermarket group. We liked the sales performance of the stores of all the stores that were there. We like the traffic patterns at Gunn [Highway] and Anderson [Road]. It also has the possibility of being upgraded both on the physical design and the leasing. Overall, we see this as a long-haul assets that is very capable of being more productive.”

The company is already looking at a number of other retail properties in state, Biel says, including a ground-up retail project in Broward County.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Crosland LLC has been retained to manage Westgate Plaza.