25 People to Watch in 2015: Tod Leiweke

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By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer Tod Leiweke

CEO, Tampa Bay Lightning and Strategic Property Partners

The CEO of the Tampa Bay Lightning will take center stage in another chief executive role in 2015.

Tod Leiweke is also CEO of Strategic Property Partners , the holding company for Lightning owner Jeff Vinik ‘s real estate endeavors. After spending the last few years assembling about 25 acres between downtown Tampa and Channelside, SPP’s plans will begin to take shape in 2015.

Besides real estate development, SPP — a powerhouse… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

Yankees great Tino Martinez sells Davis Islands mansion for $4.7 million

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By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer Former New York Yankees’ player Constantino “Tino” Martinez and his wife, Marie, have sold their waterfront mansion on Davis Islands.

The six-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot home on Blanca Avenue sold for $4.7 million to John T. Keiser and Pamela Keiser as trustees of the Keiser Family Living Trust, according to a Hillsborough County deed filed Wednesday.

The home, built in 1952, has 8.5 bedrooms.

The $4.7 million price tag lands the home in the top 10 most expensive home sales in the Bay region this… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

Tech company iQor’s HQ deal could be first of many office deals for downtown St. Pete

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By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer The owner of the downtown St. Petersburg office building where iQor has signed a lease to move its New York headquarters predicts that the deal is the first of many to come in the next year.

IQor U.S. Inc. has signed a lease for 37,340 square feet in the Tower at One Progress Plaza at 200 Central Ave., owned by St. Petersburg-based Kucera Properties. It could be the first of several office deals to come — not just for One Progress Plaza, but for downtown St. Petersburg.

A corporate headquarters… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

What a moment of rock ‘n’ roll humiliation taught me about hard work

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By John Nemo One of the more humiliating moments of my life happened in front of several hundred people.

I was playing lead guitar in a rock band, and it was one of our first live gigs. Terrified at the sea of faces watching my every move, I stared at my hands to make sure my fingers hit the right strings on my red Fender Stratocaster. At first, things went well. I was hitting my notes on cue, and the songs sounded great.

But then, without warning, the bright spotlight that illuminated my area of the stage… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

Parkway closes on Corporate Center buildings in Tampa’s Westshore for $238M

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By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer It’s official: Parkway Properties Inc. has closed on Corporate Center I, II and III for $238 million or $244 per square foot.

The Orlando-based real estate investment trust said Tuesday that it had closed on the buildings, which are near International Plaza in Tampa’s Westshore district. When known, near-term moveouts are accounted for, the three buildings are 71 percent occupied.

The buildings were part of a 22-building, $475 million portfolio deal, though Parkway sold the other 19 for a gross… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

Buckhorn: Downtown Tampa is best site for Rays stadium, but mass transit a necessity wherever it lands

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By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer When it comes to a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, Mayor Bob Buckhorn is adamant about two points: The best location is in the urban core, and the financing of project will be difficult and complex.

“I think it will do better here than it does in St. Pete,” Buckhorn told reporters, ” but at the end of the day it’s how it pencils out at the bottom line.”

Buckhorn is blunt: he doesn’t know how the stadium, which will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, will be financed. It will likely be a… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

Speculative mansion on Davis Islands sells for $2.875M

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By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer A waterfront mansion built speculatively on Davis Islands has sold for $2.875 million.

The buyer has gone to great lengths to keep their identity confidential. 464 Lucerne LLC, a Colorado corporation, closed on the home at 464 Lucerne Ave. on Dec. 5, according to Hillsborough County property records. The deal appears to be an all-cash transaction, as a mortgage has not been filed.

Colorado state records show that the corporate entity was formed Dec. 1, with addresses that trace to real estate law… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

Kriseman: ‘We are not ceding the Rays to Hillsborough County’

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By Wade Tyler Millward The Tampa Bay Rays have the mayor of St. Petersburg’s blessing to scout locations regionally, and now the baseball team’s next hurdle is city council.

Mayor Richard Kriseman agreed to allow the Rays three years to evaluate potential new homes outside the city limits, with incentives to stay in either Hillsborough or Pinellas counties, he said at a press conference this morning at Tropicana Field.

“We are not ceding the Rays to Hillsborough County,” he said. “I think it was a fair deal,” he said.

Kriseman… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

Connections of the week: Brides Against Breast Cancer fundraiser, chamber holiday parties and more

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By Eric Sturm http://TampaOptions.com National Defense Industry Association: Holiday social and fundraising event

When: Dec. 9, 5 to 7p.m.

Where: Centre Club, 123 S. Westshore Blvd., Eighth Floor, Tampa

Cost:$15

Web: http://tampabayndia.org

Association of Corporate Growth: Holiday party

When: Dec. 9, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Where: Aloft Downtown Tampa, 100 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa

Cost:$40

Web: www.acg.org/tampaba

Operations Management Society: Holiday networking event

When: Dec. 9, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Where: DoubleTree Hotel,… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate

Inside the Quay in downtown Sarasota: A $27 million deal that came together quickly

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By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer A Jacksonville developer’s plans to buy the Quay property in downtown Sarasota came together very quickly — so quickly that the group doesn’t have a formal plan for the land yet.

Ed Burr, CEO of GreenPointe Holdings LLC, said Friday that the opportunity came up in November and required closing very quickly. GreenPointe had previously tried to buy the property from the Irish government, which owns the land after absorbing the lender that foreclosed on it.

The Quay is a 15-acre parcel on Sarasota… Read More

Source:: TBBJ Real Estate