Denholtz paid New York-based JP Morgan Investment Management Inc. $66.63 per sf for the 95%-occupied complex near Interstate 275. The acquisition is the company's fourth in Tampa over the last eight months, bringing its local portfolio to 550,000 sf. Statewide, Denholtz owns 1.5 million sf.

Among Pinellas Business Center tenants are SunTrust Bank, Verizon, Progressive Insurance, Jabil Circuit and Kodak. The newest acquisition follows a risk management strategy Denholtz has been using for some time.

"The transaction reflects our acquisition program of purchasing high-quality properties significantly below replacement cost that feature numerous tenants with diverse uses," Stewart Denholtz, the company's managing director, says in a prepared statement. "The (existing) below-market rents will provide substantial value-added potential" to the purchase.

He says the privately held company "views the current climate as offering excellent acquisition opportunities" and plans to be "extremely active" throughout the state in the coming months.

Although Denholtz has been an active player in Florida and the Tampa markets for the past 15 years, the 45-year-old company didn't really become visible nationally until its $186 million acquistion in May of this year from Chicago-based Banyan Strategic Realty Trust.

In that deal, Denholtz acquired a total 2.7 million sf of mixed-use properties in Tampa, Orlando, Sarasota, FL, Tallahassee, FL, Atlanta, Chicago, Huntsville, AL, Memphis, TN and Lexington, KY. It was the biggest deal the company had ever made.

Two assets that were part of the Banyan acquisition are the 79,000-sf Colonial Penn building in the Westshore District submarket, three miles from Tampa International Airport; and the 81,000-sf Commerce Center in the Interstate 75 corridor submarket of Sarasota, FL, south of Tampa and eight miles from Sarasota International Airport.

GlobeSt.com reported those purchases in August. Denholtz declined to break out acquistion costs for the two buildings. But area brokers told GlobeSt.com at the time Colonial Penn was probably valued at $75 per sf or $5.9 million; Commerce Center at an estimated $80 per sf or $6.48 million.

Denholtz owns and manages an eight million-sf portfolio comprised of office, industrial, flex and retail product in nine states. In Florida, the company has offices in Tampa, Orlando, Jupiter and Fort Lauderdale.

Jack Denholtz founded the company in 1956.

Instant Insights /

Denholtz Pays JP Morgan $13.5 Mil for Six-Building Office Complex

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