A Breakthrough in South Shore Corporate Park

South Shore Corporate Park has secured its first tenant, Stacklight, a Kentucky based company that manufactures edge protection products. Stacklight leased 15,225 square feet out of South Shore’s 93,340 square feet total facility area. This contract ensured about 17 percent building occupancy, by just a single tenant.

Stacklight is a big company from North America, with 3 manufacturing sites on operation. The company produces mainly edge protection goods, like strapping edge protectors, customized corner boards, and other similar line of products. Stacklight also has a distribution center in the southern part of California.

South Shore Corporate Park was developed by Ryan Companies, a Minneapolis based company dealing primarily with full services in real estate. The company purchased a 380 acre office and industrial park facility in 2007 at South Shore region of Hillsborough County, Tampa. The location is fairly convenient, at I-75 and CR 674 interchange.

Vice president for development of Ryan Companies, Gary Bauler, reveals that the piece of land where South Shore stands today is a former agricultural land. It was during the mid 2008 when the government approved the project to push through. Up to this point, the project is not done with its 1st phase. The first phase entitles 2.6 million square feet of Office, flex, light industrial sites and build-to-suit infrastructures. The 2nd phase is reported to bring an extra 2 million square feet.

Stacklight has moved in on August 1, 2010, and as the first tenant, it is also the first to enjoy the massive infrastructure development brought about by Ryan Companies. About 500 square feet was allotted for Stacklight’s office space. Bauler further stated that the first tenant can occupy South Shore’s space of 50,000 to 70,000 square feet. Nevertheless, both parties have not signed any papers to confirm this, in case somebody else would want to lease the space.

Inland Real Estate Group of Companies is the lending arm of Ryan Companies. Bauler says that the recession also hit the company. Is spite of this, the company managed to own 30% of the project equity. South Shore should be finished in 8 years, but the economy will have a major contributing factor to the completion time, Bauler added.

The company is confident of the project’s strategic location. Hence, as economy begins to recover, businesses will find a prime spot for the location. Stacklight’s decision to enter Florida market may as well be influenced by the fact that Florida has almost 19 million population.