Investor pays nearly $40 million for office and retail space in Tampa

Nearly 116,000 square feet of retail and office space has sold in Tampa’s Channel District to a Baltimore investor.

The property, Grand Central at Kennedy, brought $38.1 million. That, according to Colliers, which represented the seller, is the biggest sale of retail property in the area since 2014, when Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik bought 225,000 square feet of what was then Channelside Bay Plaza for $7.1 million.

Grand Central's buyer was Mosaic Realty Partners. The Maryland real estate investment firm started in 2012 and has since bought 2.7 million square feet of commercial property valued at more than $320 million. This is the firm’s first purchase in Florida.

The mixed-used development is about a half-mile from Water Street and the planned Gas Worx development. The 115,899-square-foot space, at 1120 and 1208 E. Kennedy Blvd., is made up of 60,329 square feet of retail space and 55,570 square feet of office space. The building also has condominiums. The sale includes the use of 862 parking spaces split up over two garages.

The first phase of Grand Central at Kennedy was delivered in 2007 in a part of town, not far from the Port of Tampa, that long ago was home to tattoo parlors, low-rent bars and industrial buildings. Today, it is part of a growing city-within-a-city  with 1,650 apartment units nearby, including three luxury complexes, as well as 392 condominiums within Grand Central itself.

The space was 100% occupied at the time of sale by a mix of 15 retail and office tenants including CVS Pharmacy, Kraft Heinz Foods, Quality Carriers, a division of CSX Corp., City Dog Cantina and Crunch Fitness.