2 min read May 2022 — Tampa has become such an attractive city to live in that it is a magnet for talent, which leads companies to want to establish themselves in the city. As a result, David Bevirt, executive vice president of corporate leasing and strategy for real estate developer Strategic Property Partners, is anticipating a huge growth trajectory in the next decade. “When you look at the exponential growth that we’ve experienced over just the past four years, to get to where we are today, you realize that Tampa is on the map,” he told Invest:.
Why is Tampa attractive for your business?
We’re one of many investors in the Tampa Bay region that sees the future. When you look at the exponential growth we’ve experienced over just the past four years, to get to where we are today, you realize that Tampa is on the map. U.S. News ranked our growth market No. 15 in the United States and that report came out just this past year. The amount of growth we’re seeing here is propelling not only the residential community, but also the business community. Now we’re also seeing an influx of organizations from gateway markets that are looking at opportunities in Tampa.
What is required to make that growth sustainable going forward?
A key factor in supporting the success of Tampa Bay’s long-term growth is public infrastructure initiatives across the key sectors, like transportation. Does it happen overnight? No. That is why supporting regional initiatives that focus on fundamental public infrastructure is so vitally important to ensure that over the next 10 years we have a horizon of effective growth that is parallel to the success of all the development that is happening here, including Water Street Tampa.
If we do that, we can ensure we are not going to be victims of our success — meaning that we didn’t plan far enough into the future with the anticipated growth. We need to plan, and areas like public transportation are a means to an end to make certain that our growth will be supported in the future.
How are you dealing with some of the challenges facing the industry, such as supply chain disruption?
When COVID hit two years ago, we were concerned about supply chain issues and the impact on our construction schedule. Fortunately, we had only a few supply chain and construction schedule issues. We were very lucky! We were able to pivot, plan effectively and avoid any major issues.
What do see you emerging within the office space sector?
Over the past 12 months, we’ve seen an extraordinary increase in activity as companies start to establish their work in Tampa and recognize the need to have something different to attract and retain talent and get people back to work. That’s the key ingredient for Water Street Tampa: being able to say we’ve delivered something to the market that is so unique that it is enabling tenants and companies to choose Water Street because they’ve recognized that they are treating their investment here and their office as an asset.
In doing so, it enables them to attract and retain talent long term. We were part of the recruiting efforts for RSM, the fifth-largest accounting firm in the world, that is a tenant at Thousand & One, located at 1001 Water Street. They wanted us to present to the job candidates what the lifestyle would be like if they accepted a job with RSM. Many of those candidates recognized the opportunity to move to Tampa and the opportunity to work for a great company, but they also recognized the fact that they could be working and entertaining and dining within Water Street Tampa. We’re providing something unique. Companies are treating our real estate as an asset, allowing them to be very effective in their recruiting efforts.
What is your outlook for your company for the coming five years?
It’s all about talent. Building the talent pipeline is very important here in Tampa. You need to have the talent here to attract the companies and you need to have companies here to attract talent. It’s happening. We’re seeing it in technology. Our technology sector has had robust growth over the past two years because of a very strong talent pipeline. These are systems and computer engineers who are coming in from out of the market. They want to live here because it’s a great place to live. It’s a great work environment, a great family environment, and so forth. We anticipate a trajectory of growth over the next five to 10 years because of not only the technology sector, but also other sectors like healthcare, professional services, biotech and pharma, and the vital education sector. That growing talent pipeline is now allowing companies to move here because they know the talent is here. That’s the future for us. We see growth that will continue unabated because of these different sectors that continue to thrive and mature here because the talent is here to feed into that business ecosystem.
For more information, visit:
