Downtown Tampa Office Market

Tampa's downtown office market surged in the final half of 2015, the result of shrinking vacancy, a dearth of new construction and improved leasing activity, an analysis of CoStar Group data shows.

Those improving fundamentals, in turn, spurred sales of such high profile buildings as the SunTrust Financial Centre, Rivergate Tower and Bank of America Plaza, right. Combined, those three sales generated more than $387 million.

At year-end 2015, office vacancy in the Tampa and St. Petersburg market stood at 10.1% overall, down from 13.3% at the same point in 2011, though downtown Tampa's rate was slightly higher, at 10.6%.

$24.52
Per square foot rental rate for Tampa central business district (CBD) at year-end 2015, vs. $24.55 for the suburban Westshore submarket

12.9%
Class A vacancy in Tampa CBD's 13 buildings as of December 2015, vs. 11.3% in Westshore, with 42 buildings.

Cap rates
7.78%
Average cap rate for 2015 office deals in the Tampa and St. Petersburg market. At the end of 2014, the rate was 8.4%. Lower cap rates reflect higher sales prices.

6.75%
Cap rate on the Bank of America Plaza sale to Banyan Street Capital and Oaktree Capital Management.

Square footage stack-up
198,750
Square footage of the largest lease in the Tampa area for 2015, a renewal by Syniverse Holdings Inc. at Highwoods Preserve I, at 8125 Highwoods Palm Way, with Highwoods Properties.

51,132
Square footage of the largest Tampa CBD lease in 2015, law firm Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick's renewal at Bank of America Plaza, 101 E. Kennedy Blvd.

176,000
Square footage of the largest office building under construction in the Tampa market. The six-story Laser Spine Institute at Avion Park, which is 100% pre-leased, is being developed in Westshore by Highwoods Properties. It will be completed by the end of this month.

500,000
Square footage of the largest office building proposed in downtown Tampa, in the Channelside district, by Strategic Property Partners.