Commercial real estate

Tampa office market tightens further
Tampa's office market continues to surge, prompting plans for the first major new development in more than a decade, according to a series of new brokerage firm reports.

At 15% vacancy, the rate as of June 30 was at its lowest point since 2008, and net absorption — space whittled down through leasing and expansion — rose to 689,019 at the end of the second quarter, surpassing all of 2014, according to brokerage CBRE Group Inc.

The Tampa Bay area market, at 46 million square feet, has strengthened through expansions by insurers, legal service providers, business support and financial services firms, CBRE notes.

Leasing totaled 848,253 square feet in the second quarter — up 58.5% from the same period in 2014 — even as asking rents inched up 4.8%, according to Savills Studley. Class A rents rose at an even greater pace, by 8.6%, Studley says.

The activity has reduced inventory, especially of larger blocks of space. Just two buildings in the area have contiguous spaces of 50,000 square feet available.

Meanwhile, market analysts say future growth by Total Quality Logistics, Johnson & Johnson and others will spur new development.

Earlier this month, Tampa's Feldman Equities proposed a 52-story, mixed-use tower on South Ashley Drive that would contain more than 200,000 square feet of office space, and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has pitched plans for a $1 billion Channelside development with offices.

Cushman & Wakefield land brokerage services Executive Director Bruce Erhardt, in his most recent Land Market Overview, is even more adamant: “I still believe we will see construction start on two office projects by the fourth quarter.”

CineBistro opening delayed
Movie lovers are going to have to wait a bit longer than originally expected to sample the new CineBistro at Sarasota's Southgate Mall.

When plans were unveiled late last year, mall owner Westfield Corp. and Cobb Theatres indicated the upscale seven-screen cineplex, which will occupy a site previously held by luxury department store Saks Fifth Avenue, would debut “in 2015.”

But more recently, the duo said in a July statement that the 35,000-square-foot complex, which is now under construction and will feature an in-theater bistro menu, adult beverages and reclining leather chairs for viewing enjoyment, won't open until “early 2016.”