Kucera Talks Build to Suit in St. Petersburg, Fla.

By Scott Baltic, Contributing Editor

Kucera Properties has announced plans for a Class A mixed-use project downtown in the company’s home city, St. Petersburg. The development, described as a “build-to-suit opportunity,” would cost $85 million to $100 million, begin construction next year and encompass more than 250,000 square feet, according to Tuesday’s announcement.

Priatek Plaza

The trouble is that no particulars seem to be available at the moment about who this build-to-suit would be built for or what, exactly, will be built.

We do know that the one-third-of-an-acre site, already owned by Kucera, is bounded by 3rd Street to the west, Central Avenue to the north and 1st Avenue South to the south. And the company reportedly is partnering with Cushman & Wakefield as overall project manager, led by C&W managing director Tim Callahan.

Beyond that, there seem to be numerous variables, as Kucera describes the project as featuring 250,000 to 300,000 square feet leased to one or two anchor office tenants, additional space for spec office leasing, floor plates of 40,000 to 50,000 square feet (which would be a good trick on a site of less than 15,000 square feet), a four-star flagged hotel yet to be named, ground-floor retail, “some residential space” and 600-plus parking spaces, all to be completed in 2017.

Information about financing and the architectural team and a more precise timeline reportedly will be provided “in coming weeks,” according to Kucera Properties, which did not respond to Commercial Property Executive’s request for additional information.

“This new venture here in St. Petersburg is one of the first steps in executing our firm’s strategic plan for all of Florida,” Darin Kucera, managing partner of Kucera Properties, said in a prepared statement.

Kucera Properties owns and manages the adjacent Priatek Plaza, at 28 stories the tallest office building in Pinellas County. Its approximately 309,000 square feet of office and retail space is reportedly 90 percent occupied. Completed in 1990, it has been known variously since then as Barnett Bank Tower, Bank of America Tower and Progress One Plaza. Its latest name, officially adopted only last month, is from tenant Priatek LLC, a digital advertising/promotions agency.