Vision eyes more space at Renaissance Center

Vision Properties' risk in building spec at its Renaissance Center office park in Tampa's Westshore area was rewarded earlier this year, when AAA leased the developer's entire 150,000 square-foot property under construction.

But the Auto Club Group's decision to commit to the Renaissance Center VI building may also have empowered and emboldened the New Jersey-based investor to accelerate its development plans there.

Earlier this month Vision Properties filed documents to amend its approved plans to add an additional 575,000 square feet of office space and as many as 200 hotel rooms to its 71-acre campus.

If approved, the modification would add three additional buildings to the business park, and bring the total square footage to over 1.1 million square feet.

“With our proximity to the (Tampa International) airport, and with the amount of square footage that we've proposed to build, a lot of potential tenants have shown interest,” says Will Bertolero, a Vision Properties partner in charge of the Tampa project.

He adds that the company is installing infrastructure to enable dual electrical feeds, doubling its food court seating and adding 600 parking spaces, which will both save time and money as it embarks on both the future Renaissance Center VII and Renaissance Center VIII buildings.

Renaissance Center is currently fully leased to WellCare and Capital One. When AAA's Renaissance VI space is completed n April 2018, the park's square footage will spike to 723,000 square feet.

Bertolero says Renaissance VII, a planned four-story, 105,000-square-foot structure Vision Properties hopes to complete in 2018, would take just 16 months to construct. Renaissance VIII, an eight-story building that will contain 260,000 square feet, is likely to take 18 months to complete.

All three of the new office buildings, estimated to cost roughly $100 million, are being designed by Horton Hartley & Carter.

Vision Properties, which owns six million square feet nationally, does not yet have a timetable for the completion of its hotel or a flag, Bertolero says.

“We've done a great deal of work the past few months to get in this position, but we think we're moving in the right direction,” he says.