1 million-square-foot Tampa office park sold for $45M

NetPark Tampa Bay, a nearly 1 million-square-office park on the site of a former mall, has sold to a New Jersey real estate investment firm.

The buyer, Saxum Real Estate Partners, paid $45 million for the property, according to Hillsborough County public records.

The complex is at 5701 E. Hillsborough Ave. and until 1997 was the home of East Lake Square Mall.

According to ModernCities.com, a website that explores “urbanism, planning and culture in cities across North America,” East Lake Square Mall opened in 1976 and was the first regional mall to serve Tampa’s east side.

It’s original tenant mix included anchors JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, Dillard’s and Service Merchandise.

The two-story office park, which opened in 1999, sits on a 98.71-acre site and includes a fitness facility, a dining hall, a conference center and auditorium, a day care facility, and a HART bus transfer station, says CBRE, which represented the seller, Bluett Capital Realty.

Bluett paid $42.35 million for the park in 2005.

CBRE says the property was 60% occupied at the time of sale and has a tenant roster that includes public and private sector firms with spaces ranging from 1,250 square feet to just under 150,000 square feet.

Saxum says on its website that its current capitalization is $2.5 billion and that its portfolio includes 2 million square feet of cold storage space, 1.4 million square feet of industrial space, 1,400 multifamily units, 4,000 student housing beds and more than 1 million square feet of other assets.

This is its first purchase in Tampa.

Dale Peterson, Joe Chick and Courtney Snell of CBRE Capital Markets represented Bluett.