Full Circle

When the first two buildings at Hampton Oaks Business Park opened on Tampa's east side in 1987, R. Dallas Whitaker was early in his commercial real estate career as a leasing representative there. Now he has a office there again in a new capacity as part-owner.

Whitaker is principal of Foundation Realty Advisors LLC, a commercial property investment/leasing/management firm started late last year with two former colleagues from Colonial Properties Trust. Hampton Oaks marks its first acquisition, partnering with a private investor from Alabama and paying $18.4 million for the 259,000-square-foot collection of six single-story office and light-industrial buildings, the last of which was built in 1999.

FRA, which also involves Tom Hallowell and Rick Lessley in Atlanta, is looking for commercial property opportunities throughout the Southeast — not strictly those in distress or held by banks, but those in which owners are willing to liquidate even in the current low-price climate.