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Two of the more notable downtown office towers on the Gulf Coast remain without a name on top.
But commercial real estate brokers connected to both properties, the Ellis Building on Main Street in Sarasota and One Progress Plaza on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, haven't given up hope. Both towers previously had naming rights lease agreements with Bank of America. Those separate deals ended last year, and several potential new lease arrangements, for both buildings, haven't come together.
St. Petersburg-based Gulf Coast Commercial took over the leasing assignment for One Progress Plaza in March. There has been a good deal of buzz, Gulf Coast Commercial President Scott Dobbins says, but nothing definitive for contracts, at least on the naming rights. Dobbins says companies that have shown interest in the naming rights and top floors include financial firms, media firms and law firms in the greater Tampa Bay area. He declines to disclose specific companies with whom he's spoken.
“We are working diligently to market that space and the naming rights,” Dobbins tells Coffee Talk. “It's in my belief to be optimistic, so I look at this like a real good opportunity.”
Could be really expensive, too: At one point the asking price for naming rights to get on top of the 386-foot, 28-story building was $5 million for 10 years. Dobbins, however, says the upside is One Progress Plaza, built in 1990, is the “signature commercial building in the downtown core.”
The Ellis Building is likewise one of the premier office towers in downtown Sarasota. Officials with University Park-based Benderson Development, which owns the building, initially focused on finding a bank to take over the naming rights and ground floor space BofA previously occupied.
Benderson leasing executive Larry Fineberg says that plan has since shifted to include other possible tenants, though the firm will still be picky. That includes possibly opening the ground floor, 27,000 square feet, up to retail tenants. Benderson has already renovated several floors of the building, and Fineberg says more work is planned.
“It's not just about putting in any tenant there that will pay rent,” Fineberg says. “We are marketing the space for a tenant we think would be appropriate for the building.”
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