Highwoods bought a 33-acre multi-building development site that can support up to 524,000 square feet of office space and a 117,000-square-foot-vacant office building that sits on an additional 11 acres, a press statement said.

The site is adjacent to Tampa International Airport and is the largest remaining development tract in the Westshore submarket.

The acquisition is a great long-term opportunity for the company to own core development land in Westshore at attractive pricing, said Ed Fritsch, president and chief executive officer of Highwoods, in the statement.

"The long-term outlook for Tampa, and in particular the Westshore submarket, is sound and the acquisition of this core development land further enhances our ability to capitalize on future growth opportunities,” Fritsch said.

Highwoods' investment includes $4.9 million for the development land and $12.7 million for the office building, the statement said. The projected investment includes planned building and site improvements and expected leasing capital expenditures at the existing building.

"Given this building's location and the very competitive asking rents we have underwritten, we are confident we can lease it at compelling terms that meet our expectations,” Fritsch said.

Highwoods (NYSE: HIW), a real estate investment trust headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., said it would expense about $200,000 of acquisition-related costs in the fourth quarter.

Including this acquisition, the company owns or has an interest in 14 office buildings in the Westshore submarket, encompassing 2.2 million square feet of the submarket's 11.2 million square feet of office space.

The company also owns 53 acres of development land in Tampa with a market value of approximately $19.3 million.