TAMPA - Tampa City Center, the office building that has anchored downtown Tampa's skyline since 1981, has a new owner.

Two investment groups - Mainstreet Capital Partners, a private equity fund based in Fort Lauderdale, and CarVal Investors of Minnetonka, Minn. - bought the 38-story tower Thursday from Verizon Corp.

The price was $87.8 million, said Cushman & Wakefield senior director Mike Davis, who handled the deal.

GTE, one of the two companies that merged to form Verizon in 2000, developed the 743,000-square-foot office building and adjoining Hyatt Regency 25 years ago. Verizon spokesman Bob Elek said the sale doesn't mean Verizon plans to pull workers out of the building or leave downtown.

"It's just a business decision," Elek said. "We're constantly re-evaluating our real-estate portfolio."

Tampa City Center sits at the southeast corner of Jackson and Franklin streets. It has a reflective black glass façade, a multilevel lobby, and is crowned with the Verizon logo.

The building's tenant list includes Verizon, several prominent law firms and the University Club. A major tenant, Syniverse Technologies, will leave several vacant floors when it completes its move to Highwoods Preserve, an office park in New Tampa.

Davis said Tampa City Center holds an important place in downtown Tampa's skyline and its history.

"This was the first modern skyscraper built in the central business district, and it transformed downtown," he said.

Tampa City Center is Mainstreet's second investment in Tampa. The company acquired a West Shore office complex in 2002, which it sold.

"Tampa is a thriving market, and I am delighted that Mainstreet once again has a presence there," President Paul J. Kilgallon said.

Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at dsimanoff@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7762.