Trammell Crow Plans $70M Distribution/Office Hub

TAMPA, FL-Taking advantage of Tampa Bay’s improved industrial real estate market, Trammell Crow Co. is betting its planned $70 million, 610,000-sf distribution center in the center of Port of Tampa will pay off in full leasing and special benefits to the community.

On a five-year construction track, the venture will have a total 480,000 sf of distribution space and 130,000 sf of office space.

Trammell Crow plans to break ground in September on the first 280,000-sf, $10 million phase of the project which is expected to be the first of its kind in the area. The state-of-the art center will be served by both wharf and rail, featuring cross-dock loading with a 30-foot clear ceiling height.

The mixed-use site is in Port Ybor, a 33-acre multi-use park in the center of Port of Tampa at 20th and Grant streets. Trammell Crow is the owner/developer of the project.

“This has been a great partnership between the Port of Tampa and TCC, leveraging our combined strengths to bring new products to the Port,” says Bob Abberger, the firm’s managing director for Florida Development Services.

The second planned phase will include the construction of a 30,100-sf, two-story office building at the entrance to Port Ybor. Abberger says later phases will encompass 200,000 sf of additional distribution space and a 100,000-sf, three-story, waterfront office building, overlooking the Channelside District and Downtown Tampa.

“Trammell Crow’s development plans at Port Ybor blend perfectly with Port initiatives currently under way, which are focused on the expansion of Tampa’s general cargo and container trade,” says Tampa Port Authority director and CEO George T. Williamson. “We applaud Trammell Crow’s creative initiative of attracting tenants that can benefit from the Port of Tampa’s considerable assets and infrastructure.”

Average asking rent at the planned center will be about $4 per sf, Abberger tells GlobeSt.com. “TCC is targeting port and port-related users that require immediate access to the area,” he adds.

Port Ybor is located in a foreign trade zone and enterprise zone, which “provides tenants with the opportunity for tremendous economic savings in operations expenditures,” Abberger says.

Major infrastructure improvements at the Port Ybor site are under way and scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of this year. The work includes the widening of 20th Street to six lanes, beginning at State Road 60 (Adamo Drive) and ending at the 22nd Street Causeway Bridge, and the expansion and renovation of the existing wharf.

The distribution/office center project increases Trammell Crow’s presence in Central Florida and Tampa Bay’s commercial real estate sector particularly. The company’s diverse development portfolio includes the $110 million Marriott Waterside convention hotel; the 450,000-sf Port Ybor Mixed-Use Industrial Park; the 200,000-sf McKesson distribution facility in Lakeland; the 260,000-sf Center of Commerce Industrial Park in Orlando; and the 194,000-sf Hughes Supply office building in Downtown Orlando.

Trammell Crow also developed the 175,000-sf Tower 101 office building in Fort Lauderdale. New projects under way throughout the state total two million sf with an aggregate value of $175 million.