Distressed Tampa-Area Retail Center Changes Hands

The Clearwater Collection. Image courtesy of Avison Young

An affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies has acquired a 134,362-square-foot retail center in Clearwater, Fla., a distressed asset that recently went into bankruptcy. The seller was Clearwater Collection 15 LLC, an entity handled by Avison Young Principal Michael Vullis, who acted as the court-appointed receiver.

An Avison Young team brokered the $22.5 million sale. Before reevaluating the property and putting it up for sale, the company was in charge of the management and leasing activity at the location.

Dubbed as Clearwater Collection, the property has a Floor & Décor store as sole tenant, occupying 49 percent of the total rentable area under a remainder 5-year lease. The new owner intends to reposition the distressed retail asset in the future.

Located at 21800 U.S. Highway 19 N., the 13-acre retail center is adjacent to baseball stadium BayCare Ballpark, where the Phillies Spring Training and the Clearwater Threshers teams reside. Downtown Tampa, Fla., and northern St. Petersburg, Fla., are some 19 miles away.

Repurposing a retail asset

The Avison Young Florida Capital Markets team which marketed the property and brokered the transaction was led by by Principals John Crotty, Michael Fay and David Duckworth, together with Senior Vice President Nick Robinson and Vice President Brian de la Fé.

As mentioned in PwC and Urban Land Institute’s Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2023 report, next year’s retail market will witness more repurposing of redundant assets. The report also reveals that the Tampa and St. Petersburg areas are among the top 10 U.S. markets investors should watch in the year to come.

In a prepared statement, Crotty mentioned that the location of the underused property and the in-place zoning permits provide the new owner with the possibility to develop a mixed-use project comprising residential, office, retail and entertainment uses.

Besides repositioning and leasing opportunities, the value-add investment provides land redevelopment potential for the owner of the adjacent sports stadium.