Tampa Trader Joe's building sold

TAMPA — Loja Real Estate LLC, a subsidiary of the Walnut Creek, Calif., real estate investment management firm Loja Group LLC, purchased a 12,318-square-foot building housing Trader Joe's for $8.18 million.

The price equated to $664 per square foot. That figure is higher than the two-year average price per square foot for retail space ($146) in the Tampa Bay area, according to the CoStar Group.

The seller, an affiliate of Greenville, S.C.-based Centennial American Properties, purchased the former Shapes location on 0.99 acres of land in August for $2.7 million and renovated it to lease to the the prominent specialty grocer. Trader Joe's opened the store, its first in Tampa Bay area, on March 21.