Westshore Corporate Centers included in $475M deal

TAMPA — Parkway Properties Inc. says it has reached an agreement to buy Corporate Center I, II, and III at International Plaza. The three office buildings in Westshore have a total of 974,000 square feet and are adjacent Parkway Properties' Corporate Center IV at International Plaza.

The purchase is part of an agreement by Parkway Properties to buy a much larger portfolio that includes an additional 19 office properties with 2.1 million square feet of space in six states. Parkway's gross purchase price for the entire portfolio is $475 million.

However, Parkway Properties says it plans to sell those other 19 properties off within a year or so, because they are not consistent with its current investment strategy.

The real estate investment trust expects to close on the portfolio during the fourth quarter.

“The Corporate Center at International Plaza assets are within the strongest performing submarket in Tampa,” James Heistand, president and CEO of Parkway Properties, says in a press release. “The assets are currently well below market occupancy, and we believe we can leverage our existing regional operating platform to add value to the assets and replicate our recent leasing success within the Westshore submarket.”

The Corporate Center assets have a combined occupancy of 69.7%, which includes about 50,000 square feet of known move-outs over the next 12 months. Parkway Properties estimates that its initial full-year cash net operating income yield for these assets will be between 4.4% to 4.7%.

HFF Inc. represented the seller in the transaction.

As of July 1, Parkway Properties owned or had an interest in 51 office properties located in eight states with a total of 18.3 million square feet of leasable space.