NAIOP awards highlight big deals

The National Association of Industrial and Office Parks' Tampa chapter awards for 2017 showcased the region's largest transactions and reflected the buoyancy of the industry over the past year.

NAIOP's annual awards, presented on Feb. 15 at the Westin Harbourside Tampa, honored a dozen industry participants in all, including those for lease and sale transactions, developer, commercial real estate brokerage firm, landlord, project and buildings.

The awards, which were attended by roughly 300, are voted on each year by NAIOP chapter members.

North Carolina-based Dilweg Cos., whose Florida operations are headquartered in Sarasota, won “Best Deal of the Year — Sale” for its more than $135 million purchase of more than a half-dozen office buildings from Michigan-based Osprey S.A. and Osprey Ltd.

A team from commercial brokerage firm JLL that included Market Leader Brent Miller, Gary Godsey, Bryan Rodriguez, John Heald, Ron Ruffner and Clay Sovich was awarded “Best Deal of the Year — Lease” for work on Amgen's decision to locate a corporate “capability center” in a Cousins Properties building in Westshore.

JLL also won “Best Brokerage Firm.”

Tinged with an Olympics' theme, New Jersey-based Vision Properties' Renaissance Center was voted the best development project, while Brennan Investment Group was recognized as best developer for its 605,000-square-foot industrial project in Lakeland that delivered last year.

IP Capital Partners took home top honors as best landlord, Highwoods Properties' SunTrust Financial Centre won best office building of the year and Tampa Regional Industrial Park was named best industrial property.

Rounding out the awards were Brasfield & Gorrie, best contractor; Andrea Zellman for best attorney; Genesis Group as best engineering firm; and api(+), which was recognized as best architect.

Cushman & Wakefield's Bruce Lauer was inducted into the group's “Hall of Fame” for 2017, in recognition of his five-decade-long career in the industry.

“We want to be among the premier landlords in Central and Southwest Florida,” says Liz Madzula, Dilweg Cos.' Florida market leader. “When we enter a market, we like to generate critical mass, as we did with the Osprey purchase, to leverage synergies and relationships throughout the portfolio. And multiple buildings gives us the ability to lease space to various kinds of tenants.”