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RETURN TO NEWS INDEX Amazon looms as spark for Ruskin commercial park
By Mark Holan
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 28, 2013
RUSKIN - The 91,200-square-foot warehouse sits quiet and empty on a manicured lot in South Shore Corporate Park.
There are no trucks beeping as they reverse into the loading docks; only a few birds chirping from the landscaped trees surrounding the warehouse.
The speculative building was erected in 2008.
"Bad timing,†said Robert Krueger of Redstone Commercial, the brokerage firm representing the park along Interstate 75 in Ruskin.
Now, talk of Amazon building a 1 million-square-foot warehouse on 70 acres in the park near the empty building has many people saying South Shore's time may have finally arrived.
"If Amazon comes it would be very positive,†said Brian Smith, senior pre-construction manager for Ryan Cos. US Inc., which owns the land. "Activity breeds activity. We are enthusiastic about them potentially coming here and drawing more users to the park.â€
Ryan paid nearly $28 million for 302 commercial acres at South Shore in May 2007. The company pumped $30 million into infrastructure improvements, such as roads and natural gas lines.
As the economy crashed, construction stopped and warehouse vacancy doubled from below 5 percent to more than 10 percent.
Plans for the 1,000-acre development on land owned by the Dickman agricultural family date back more than a decade. Drawings still circulate showing more than 1 million square feet of commercial development and more 2,000 units of residential construction being completed by 2012.
Krueger, an industrial property veteran, said a prospective tenant is close to leasing half of the empty spec building.
Other inquiries are picking up, too, he said.
Railroad & Industrial Federal Credit Unionbought a 1.12-acre lot at South Shore for $550,000 in October 2008. "New location coming soon,†shouts a sign a block from the proposed Amazon site.
"I liked the idea of all that covered space and we need to move southward,†said Art Wood, the credit union's president and CEO. "We only stopped because the progression of other building stopped.â€
Now, Wood said he is "dusting off†his plans for a 2,800-square-foot branch.
"Our decision to build will be driven by other activity,†he said.
Hillsborough County commissioners approved $225,000 in incentives in exchange for the online retailer creating 375 better than average paying jobs at the location. The development could create up to 1,000 jobs total.
On July 18, commissioners are to consider waiving half of the projected $913,000 annual property tax bill on the site for seven years.
The timetable for Amazon's decision about building at South Shore or other potential locations in Florida remains unclear. Calls and email to the company were not returned.
"They are moving with exceptional quickly,†Smith said. "They are doing their due diligence at lightening speed.â€
He said industrial users are looking for modern space with good highway access and other amenities such as those offered at South Shore.
The timing might be right.
"Unlike other commercial real estate specialties, the industrial market around Tampa Bay seems primed for new development,†CBRE said in a first quarter report.
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