European firm buys interest in massive Gasworx project in Tampa

The developers behind the 50-acre Gasworx project in Tampa have obtained $182 million in construction financing and sold a stake in the project to a Czech company with global real estate holdings.

Local developers Darryl Shaw and Kettler announced the moves Monday in a statement saying that “these milestones enable us to continue moving forward…while driving future growth.”

While the $182 million loan will go toward developing three parcels in the project, bringing in a new partner may in the long run have a bigger impact.

The company is Prague-headquartered PPF Group, which operates in 25 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. Its core businesses are in telecommunications, media, financial services, e-commerce, real estate, mechanical engineering and biotechnology

PPF, through its PPF Real Estate division, has 2 billion euros (about $2.06 billion) in assets in the U.S. and Europe, according to its website. It says in a statement that with its acquisition of a stake in Gasworx it has “diversified its footprint in the U.S.”

The company, however, did not disclose how much it invested into the project nor how much of an interest it bought.

A spokesperson for Kettler and Shaw says in an email that “the total amount (of the investment) is not being disclosed.”

“PPF Group joins the venture via its acquisition for an undisclosed consideration of a majority stake in the current phase of the project with Kettler and Darryl Shaw.”

As for the $182 million construction loan, the money will go toward developing three major parcels on the property connecting downtown Tampa and Ybor City.

The parcels are known as E1, E2 and E3.

E1 will have a 5-story building with 140 residential units, mostly one-bedrooms, and 18,000 square feet of retail space.

E2 is a repurposed warehouse that will include a 28,000-square-foot marketplace with restaurants, retail and indoor-outdoor seating. Connected to the marketplace will be a 100,000-square-foot office building that will become the headquarters for the Tampa based credit union Grow Financial.

And E3 will feature a 10-story residential building with 376 units and 29,000 square feet of retail space.

Gasworx says construction on the three parcels is set to begin early this year with and to be completed in late 2026 and early 2027.

The loan was issued by Bank OZK.

Gasworx is a massive redevelopment mostly in and around Tampa’s historic Ybor City neighborhood and just outside downtown. When complete, it will include 5,000 new residences as well as 500,000 square feet of office space and more than 140,000 square feet of retail.