Perfect timing

The $22 million acquisition of the Park Place Office & Promenade in Clearwater last month may kick off a renewed wave of regional buying by institutional investor Steelbridge Capital, its founding partner says.

Gavin Campbell contends the Sept. 30 deal for the four-building complex was spurred by a high-tech tenancy that has clustered in Pinellas County.

“We've always been interested in Pinellas County, because it's a densely populated county, and we like that,” Campbell, a former LaSalle Investment Management executive, says of Steelbridge's strategy.

“But I had a hard time understanding the demand drivers, until I came to understand the high amount of technology employment there, and that's what got me excited.”

The purchase also marks a return to the area for Steelbridge, which sold a pair of high-profile assets in Tampa a decade ago on behalf of a pension fund and other clients. It also may signal that the current investment cycle has a way to go before running out of collective steam.

At Park Place, 60% of the tenants — including Performance Software, Malwarebytes, Threattrack, and others — are involved in cyber security efforts, Campbell says. In all, the office park is 96% occupied.

Steelbridge acquired the complex, completed in 1985 and comprising nearly 169,000 square feet, from an affiliate of Equity Office Properties Trust, according to county property records.

Analysts say the 311-430 Park Place Blvd. complex, which sits on 17 acres and is roughly 10 minutes from Tampa International Airport, illustrates the depth of the Tampa Bay commercial real estate market.

“This shows the attractiveness of the Tampa Bay market in that outside institutional investors are buying here,” says John Gerlach, a vice president of investment services for brokerage firm Colliers International Tampa Bay.

“It's a signal that Tampa Bay, and Pinellas County, are becoming a focal point.”

Campbell agrees, and says Steelbridge is interested in buying other area properties.

“We've had a hard time buying at what we believe to be the right price,” he says. “We've been bridesmaids on deals a lot of times, particularly in Westshore and downtown Tampa. But I think you'll see a lot more of us, now that we've found the right deal. We're off and running.”

Steelbridge's partners are no strangers to the Tampa Bay region. In 2004, Campbell and partner Jay Caplin sold the Sun Forest office complex in Westshore for $20.5 million, capturing a 14% internal rate of return after owning it for six years, according to the company's website. The following year, the duo sold the two-building, luxury Urban Centre block for $105 million, or a 16% internal rate of return, after holding it for eight years.

Steelbridge's Florida portfolio currently consists of roughly a half dozen properties totaling about 1.8 million square feet, in Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Naples.

But the company hasn't solely been focusing on acquisitions. In July, Steelbridge sold the SunTrust Bank Building at 801 Laurel Oak Drive in Naples for nearly twice the amount it spent to buy it a year earlier.

American National Insurance Co., of Texas, paid Steelbridge $23.6 million for the seven-story building; Steelbridge bought it for $12.6 million in July 2014, according to Collier County property records.

But while Steelbridge's enthusiasm for the Tampa area is waxing, Campbell says the firm will continue to seek value-oriented opportunities to invest client capital.

“We're pretty disciplined guys,” he says of Steelbridge. “And while we know we can't control the outcome sometimes, we can control the process.”