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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.
While the debt is large, DeBartolo is familiar with the area. The firm has several residential and commercial projects in Chicago and is currently developing a 42-story apartment building in the city. Also, DeBartolo President and COO Ed Kobel, in an April 8 press release about an acquisition of a shopping center in suburban Chicago, says the Windy City is ripe for growth. “We like Chicago — it's not really a market of booms or busts,” says Kobel. “It has great stability, great demography and the economy is pretty robust.”
The firm's interest in projects in Hawaii, moreover, could be on the rise. The Business Observer reported on DeBartolo's Aloha State holdings in a 2011 profile on Kobel. The portfolio includes a 1.4 million-square-foot mega mall in development in Kapolei, Hawaii. Kobel, in a May 3 story in the Pacific Business News, says the firm has more plans for the state, including redevelopment of two hotels in Waikiki; a 200-acre single family home development project in West Oahu; and possible retail projects on Maui.
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