Apollo Beach retail center sells as smokestacks come down

A newly built commercial retail property in Apollo Beach has sold.

The 7,000-square foot building was bought for $5.04 million by a private South Florida investor who bought the property in all in cash deal as part of a 1031 Exchange.

Apollo Beach is a small unincorporated town on U.S. Highway 41 between Gibsonton and Ruskin in Hillsborough County.

The retail building is on the highway and is currently occupied by GoodVets and First Watch. SRS Real Estate Partners, which represented the seller and announced the deal, says both have 10-year, corporate leases in place.

SRS senior vice president William Wamble says the bidding was competitive and that the building on 1.9 acres brought six offers.

Apollo Beach has been busy recently.

In early May, luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers opened Regency at Waterset, a 55-and-older community, in the town. That was followed a couple of weeks later by Tampa Electric Co.'s announcement that it had completed demolishing two chimneys at the Big Bend Power Station, drastically altering Apollo Beach's skyline.

The demolition was a big deal given that since the 1970s the 500-foot tall chimneys were a landmark for the community, perpetually in residents line of site and a visual symbol of Apollo Beach from as far away as Tampa.

TECO says that a specialized team dismantled them in pieces, with the demolition taking about more than a year.