Extended Florida market
Tampa
and the Bay.
Florida’s largest port by tonnage, at the western end of the corridor that carries the state’s consumer goods.
Gulf coast / Port Tampa Bay and the I-4 west end
Tampa is a distribution market, not a gateway market. Port Tampa Bay is the largest port in Florida by tonnage and by land area, and what moves through it is bulk, fuel and containers for the western half of the state rather than the Latin American trade that shapes Miami. That difference sets the tenant base, and the tenant base sets what a building is worth.
The second driver is population. The Bay area has been one of the fastest growing metros in the country for a decade, and that growth arrives as contractors, trades, service businesses and fleets. Those are small bay and yard tenants, and there has been very little built for them.
Where the industrial actually is
- East Tampa and Adamo DriveThe historic industrial belt. Older warehouse, service product and genuine yard.
- Port Tampa BayBulk, fuel and container terminals, with the marine and freight trades around them.
- Plant CityThe eastern edge, on I-4 and the rail. Distribution, agriculture freight and cheaper dirt.
- Brandon and RiverviewService industrial and small bay following residential growth east of the river.
- Gibsonton and RuskinThe US-41 south corridor. Where the yard-capable land still is.
- Pinellas Park and LargoDense small bay and flex on the peninsula. Nothing new is being built.
- Clearwater and OldsmarLight industrial, flex and manufacturing on the north Pinellas side.
- Tampa International and WestshoreAir cargo, service industrial and the highest land basis in the market.
- Lakeland county lineThe overflow point where Hillsborough demand meets Polk County pricing.
The infrastructure
What sets value here
Industrial value is access. Every figure on this page is downstream of these six things.
- Port Tampa BayThe largest seaport in Florida by tonnage and by land area.
- I-4The corridor east to Orlando and Daytona, carrying the great majority of the state’s consumer goods.
- I-75North toward Ocala and Georgia, south toward Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples.
- I-275 / SelmonThe internal ring across the bay and through the city, and the route the service trades actually drive.
- RailCSX serves the market, with intermodal capacity inland at Winter Haven in Polk County.
- TPATampa International air cargo, and the Westshore industrial pocket beside it.
What we sell here
Six asset classes, one national buyer list
- Industrial outdoor storage. Contractor yards, fleet and equipment storage, concentrated south along US-41 and east toward Plant City.
- Truck parking and terminals. Port-driven and I-4 driven, and short of permitted supply like the rest of the corridor.
- Small bay and flex. Roughly 1,200 to 15,000 SF. Tight across the market, and tightest on the Pinellas peninsula.
- Warehouse. From the older East Tampa stock to modern distribution on the Plant City and Polk County edge.
- RV and boat storage. A boating population on both sides of the bay, and very little purpose-built product.
- Industrial land. Still available south and east of the city, which is not true in South Florida.
How we work outside the tri-county
Phil is straight about this, because a broker who claims every market is telling you something about himself. Inside Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach he is a local market expert and he walks the sites. Outside the tri-county, what you are hiring is the asset class and the buyer list.
On IOS, truck parking, RV and boat storage and small bay, the buyer pool is national and it does not care which county you are in. That pool, and the way this product is actually priced, is what we bring to Tampa.
What he will never do is describe asset-class depth as though it were a closing on your street. See what the firm has actually closed.
Cities we work in this market
Straight answers
Questions owners actually ask
We work the asset class nationally and we bring the buyer list. Phil is straight about the difference between that and being the local expert on a street corner: inside Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach he walks the sites himself, and outside the tri-county what you are hiring is the product knowledge and the capital relationships. On IOS, truck parking, RV and boat storage and small bay, that buyer pool is national and it does not care which county you are in.
On usable, unencumbered acreage, on what the zoning permits you to store and stack, on access and truck turning, and on the coverage the site can legally carry. A building on the site is treated as support. This is the part generalist brokers get wrong, because they price a yard on building square footage and land up thirty per cent light.
On IOS, truck parking and terminals, roughly one acre of usable, unencumbered land. On buildings it is less about size than about whether there is a real buyer pool for the product. If your property does not fit, we will tell you that quickly rather than take a listing we cannot sell.
Before you list in Tampa
Read these before you sign a listing agreement.
How to sell a warehouse in Fort Lauderdale
The seven steps in the order they happen, what sets the price, and the three mistakes that cost owners the most.
What is my industrial property worth?
Why no website can price a warehouse or a truck yard, and what a real broker opinion of value contains.
How to choose an industrial broker
Nine questions to ask before you sign, and what a weak answer sounds like.
Next step
Find out what your property is worth.
A confidential broker opinion of value, at no cost and with no obligation to list. Phil sets the number himself.