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Pinellas County has put a 96-acre, light-industrial office park that’s home to a top military contractor up for sale.
The county’s request for bids for the site, the Young-Rainey Science Technology and Research (STAR) Center, represents what officials call a rare commercial real estate opportunity. According to a press release, the majority of the STAR Center, 7887 Bryan Dairy Road in Largo, is leased to defense contractor Raytheon. HIT Promotional Products, Constellation Technology Corp. and Compass Group USA also lease space there.
According to a 2015 appraisal by Valbridge Property Advisors, the parcel is valued at $19.09 million. Some 81% of its 661,697 square feet of space is occupied, with the lion’s share of occupancy — 76.3% — attributed to Raytheon.
Mike Meidel, director of Pinellas County's Economic Development department, tells Coffee Talk the county is "unlikely" to get $19 million for the property, but that it should be able to get well over $10 million. "Because the major tenant is Raytheon," he says, "there's not a lot of opportunity to increase revenue, but it's safe money coming from Raytheon and the land leases, and there's land available to do more. Plus, there's a lot of surface parking that could be converted to structural parking."
A rent summary issued by the county June 1 shows the entire parcel generates $355,079.98 in annual rental income. About 10.5 acres are available for immediate development, according to the release.
Meidel says the county is using a request for negotiation process (RFN) for the sale of the property because "we are not looking only at price, but what [a potential buyer] would do with it." Qualified responses to the RFN, he adds, should demonstrate how they will use the property to create jobs or "catalyst projects" that empower startups and entrepreneurs.
The deadline for submitting written questions about the opportunity and requesting a tour of the property is Oct. 1, and the deadline for bids is Oct. 11. More information is at www.PCED.org/StarCenter.
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