Surf's up for local real estate firm

Tampa-based DeBartolo Development made the rounds of national commercial real estate news in recent weeks.

For starters, the firm, one of largest real estate companies on the Gulf Coast, was mentioned prominently in the Wall Street Journal's “Deal of the Week” story May 15. DeBartolo, the newspaper reports, is a possible bidder on the Chicago Spire condo project, which has $93 million in debt held by the Ireland-based National Asset Management Agency. The tower, in the planning stages, was going to be the tallest building in North America. But the project faltered in 2008.

Officials with DeBartolo, which has a $1.8 billion land and development portfolio, didn't comment in the story. The Journal adds that other possible bidders on the Spire project could include New York-based Related Cos., a real estate giant.