Hurricanes have wreaked havoc on Florida property insurance rates, but investors with billions of dollars are still chasing quality office and industrial buildings in the Tampa Bay area and beyond.

A case in point was Tuesday's arrival in Tampa of Jeremy Katz, an analyst with New York's Real Estate Capital Partners.

On a buying expedition for his company, Katz said investors, both foreign and domestic, still hanker for well-placed office development in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Their hunger is limited only by the availability of good buildings for sale, he said, Florida's balmy business climate, including 3 percent unemployment, overshadows any stormy weather.

"Hurricanes may have scared off small buyers, but it hasn't stopped big investors like teacher's pension funds," Katz said as he rated insurance as a short-term problem. "Our company represents mostly German institutional investors. They just love Florida."

Katz's remarks came during an annual luncheon Tuesday hosted by the Grubb & Ellis real estate firm in Tampa. Except for the slow housing sector, Grubb executives bore good news about Tampa area real estate:

OFFICE: Tampa's Westshore business district remains the region's healthiest office market and one of the best in Florida, said Grubb's Tom Kennedy.

Downtown St. Petersburg was a strong No. 2, with vacancy half the national average at about 7 percent. Kennedy suspects downtown St. Petersburg, with its restaurants and waterfront, will lure tenants this year from the Carillon business district off Roosevelt Boulevard.

Overall, with limited land for growth and rising demand for quality space, office owners are sure to charge more this year, some rents reaching $28 to $30 per square foot.

"It's clearly a landlord's market," Kennedy said.

RETAIL: Most of the big retail action is confined to what Grubb calls the "northern outlying submarket" - Pasco County. In Wesley Chapel/Land O'Lakes, three mall-sized developments will compete for tenants this year.

The Grove at Wesley Chapel, the Shops at Wiregrass and Cypress Creek Town Center are about three-quarters leased. On Wednesday, Grubb's Michelle Seifert indicated Wiregrass had lined up Macy's as an anchor tenant.

New retail won't bypass Pinellas County either. A 575,000-square-foot project called Largo Town Center is on the drawing boards.

INDUSTRIAL: The Tampa Bay area boasted 6 percent vacancy for warehouses, factories and other industrial space, below the 8 percent national average. Rents rose the fastest in Hillsborough and Polk counties, where leasing costs leapt about 25 percent.

LAND: Property prices still hover in the stratosphere after years of speculation-fueled growth. But Grubb's Bob Zegota dubs the land market dead this year, thanks to strapped home builders looking to liquidate.

"I think there's going to be a little washout," Zegota said.

As Florida's most densely developed county, Pinellas had the highest average land price last year, at $437,000 per acre. In Hillsborough, with miles of vacant tracts south of Tampa, the average acre sold for $81,000 last year.

James Thorner can be reached at thorner@sptimes.com or 813226-3313.