NAIOP awards its annual "Best of the Best"

Central Florida Development, commercial real estate brokerage JLL and CRE Consultants’ Managing Partner and former CBRE Inc. Florida Market Leader Ray Sandelli took home top honors during the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP) Tampa Bay’s annual “Best of the Best” event on Jan. 31.

Central Florida was named best developer for 2018 and JLL the best brokerage firm. Sandelli was inducted into the group’s Hall of Fame during the 25th anniversary of the event.

The $110 million sale of the 38-story Tampa City Center skyscraper, negotiated by Cushman & Wakefield’s Mike Davis, Rick Brugge and Michael Lerner, was recognized as top office sale, while DHL Supply Chain’s $42.5 million purchase of a 520,000-square-foot warehouse in the Key Logistics Center, in Lakeland, got the nod for best industrial transaction.

Transwestern’s Walter Byrd represented DHL, which will operate the building as an Ikea furniture fulfillment center, and Colliers International’s Ryan Vaught and Robyn Hurrell negotiated on behalf of seller Blue Steel Development.

Strategic Property Partners’ roughly $13 million purchase of a three-acre site from Ardent Mills, which will better connect the developer’s Water Street Tampa project to downtown, was selected as the best land deal of last year. JLL’s John Dunphy negotiated that transaction.

SoHo Capital, whose Armature Works project won in the best urban/infill category, also was recognized with the best office lease deal of 2018 for its work in landing surgical innovator AxoGen Inc. to 75,000 square feet in the Heights Union building, which is slated for delivery next year. Cushman & Wakefield’s Ryan Reynolds, Jimmy Garvey and Kristin Bodin negotiated that deal.

Denholtz Associates and Convergent Capital Partners’ 490 First Ave. office building in St. Petersburg — which was sold to Lincoln Property Co. in December in a $39.35 million deal — received the top honor in the best office project category, and Harrod Properties Inc.’s Gatewood Corporate Center, in Lakewood Ranch, was named best industrial project.