The owner of a large development site near MacDill Air Force Base is listing the property for sale with the hopes of profiting on a hot real estate market.
Patriot Transportation, based in Jacksonville, has retained managing director Jan Boltres and industrial specialist John Jackson of Colliers International Tampa Bay to market a 25.5-acre site at 6604 South Dale Mabry Highway.
The property is currently home to a truck terminal for Florida Rock & Tank Lines Inc. That facility takes up 5 acres, and Patriot would relocate it if a deal came to fruition, said Matt McNulty, director of corporate development.
Patriot (NASDAQ: PATI) had discussions with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which was attempting to buy the site through the military base protection program.
“We’re taking it to market now because we were willing to see if we could work something out with the state, and it just fell short,” McNulty said. “It’s the right time right now. We don’t want to miss the cycle.”
With the dynamics of the area surrounding Patriot’s site, it could represent an opportunity at the perfect time.
Momentum in the South Tampa real estate market is shifting into the South of Gandy area, where land prices are more affordable. Two other major developments are already in the works South of Gandy: a major apartment development near the Walmart Super Center on Gandy Boulevard, as well as a mixed-use waterfront development at the intersection of Gandy and Westshore boulevards.
“Whether it’s considered South Tampa or not, it still enjoys the benefit of South Tampa,” Darron Kattan, managing director with Franklin Street in Tampa, previously told the TBBJ, “meaning you can get downtown in five minutes and to everything else very quickly without having to get on the highway.”
