Revamping Westshore

Sometimes all a building needs is a facelift to beat the market. At least that's what Avison Young is hoping with the 30-year-old Westshore Center.
The commercial real estate company is in the middle of a $1.5 million project to revamp the building, updating everything from landscaping to elevator banks.
It all started when one of the building's owners, an investor from TA Associates Realty, asked if the firm could change out the lights on the walk from the parking garage to the front door. From there, the revamp quickly expanded to a complete overhaul.
Clay Witherspoon, Avison Young's principal and managing director, says it will be well worth the investment. Since the company started renovations in January, occupancy has increased from 83% to 87%. By the end of 2014, the company expects to be above 90%. Witherspoon also thinks the company will see a 15% to 20% increase in annual rental revenue from the renovations.
Nearly eight months ago, Witherspoon's 19-person commercial real estate businesses, Lane Witherspoon & Carswell Commercial Real Estate Advisors (LWC) and L&W Commercial Property Management, were acquired by Avison Young. Toronto-based Avison Young is the fastest-growing commercial real estate firm in the world, with 1,500 employees in 54 offices. The Tampa branch brought in $75 million of the company's $449 million in total transactions in 2013.
The Westshore market is one of Florida's largest submarkets and Tampa's most popular and expensive area for businesses, with an average leasing rate of $24.11 per square foot and average vacancy rate of 12.8%, according to a market report from CBRE's Tampa office.

“Westshore's success is because you have two regional malls within a mile of each other, the interstate systems and roadway infrastructures and access to Tampa International Airport,” Witherspoon says.

With 1.4 million square feet in its Westshore listing portfolio, Avison Young ranks in the top three commercial real estate companies in an area that includes 12.6 million square feet of building space.