TAMPA,  FL-Ryan Companies US, Inc., a Minneapolis-based full-service real estate company, has signed its first lease at the South Shore Corporate Park in Tampa. The 380-acre office and industrial park has entitlements  for up to 2.7 million square feet.

The first tenant at South Shore Corporate Park will be Stacklight, a Kentucky-based edge protection manufacturer which signed a lease for 15,225 square feet in the park’s first, and thus far, only building, a 93,340-square foot facility. Stacklight’s space will include 500 square feet of office space. When the company moves in, the building will be almost 17% occupied.

The land for the park was acquired in 2007, says Gary Bauler, a vice president for development with the  Ryan Companies in its Tampa office. Located in unincorporated South Hillsborough County, the land was  farmed before the Ryan Companies bought it, he says.  Government approvals for the South Shore Corporate Park were granted in mid to late 2008.

The Ryan Companies master planned South Shore Corporate Park, completed roads, ponds and street lights among other infrastructure development and began the first building about a year ago. Although still under construction, says Bauler, it is expected to be ready in time for the first tenant to move in on August 1. Stacklight has the option of taking up to 50,000 to 70,000 square feet in the building, says Bauler, although there is no contract committing  the Ryan Companies to hold the space, if someone else wants, it.

The commercial lending/mortgage financing arm of the Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, based in Chicago, is providing the financing for the South Shore Corporate Park and the Ryan Companies has already contributed about $17 million of its own equity to the project, which amounts to a 30% equity stake.

If all goes according to plan at the South Shore development, it will be built out over the next eight years, but a lot depends on the economy says Bauler. “Almost every industrial market in the US has been hit hard,” he says.

The overall vacancy rate for the Hillsborough County industrial market in the second quarter of  2010 was 9.2%, which is not catastrophic, but the year-to-date overall net absorption was a negative 75,802 square feet, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The year-to-date leasing activity was 1,062,532 square feet, and there was no construction in the whole county.

The South Shore Corporate Park represents a departure from the way the Ryan Companies’ usually operates. Much of the time it acts as a third-party builder for corporate clients such as the Target Corp., Nationwide Insurance, The Hartford, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Best Buy and Polaris Industries.  Although it sells off a lot of the buildings it builds—Target  typically owns its own stores-- at any one time, the company owns 10 million square feet, says Bauler. It has offices in San Diego, Phoenix, Chicago, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Tampa and Minneapolis and operates in 20 to  25 states.