By B.C. Manion
The harsh winter weather that has wreaked havoc in other parts of the country may offer a glimmer of opportunity for an industrial office park in Central Pasco County.
COMPARK 75 recently has received feelers from out-of-state companies, said Heidi Tuttle-Beisner of Commercial Asset Partners, an agent for the property.
“We’ve got so much interest now,” Tuttle-Beisner said. “They prefer to be in a climate that’s less volatile.”
There are four companies from out of state and two local companies that are looking to locate at COMPARK at 4446 Pet Lane in Lutz. The industrial park is owned by HR Pasco, whose owner is Larry Morgan.
While the 165-acre industrial park has a Lutz mailing address, it sits off CR 54, about midway between the interchanges of SR 54 and SR 56 with I-75.
It is about 12 miles east of the Suncoast Parkway.
The northern boundary of the industrial park straddles the Tampa North Aero Park airport and it’s easy to see traffic streaming by on I-75.
Tuttle-Beisner won’t name the companies considering a move to the industrial park, but she did say the local companies are interested in leasing space in existing buildings and the out-of-state companies are interested in buying land and constructing their own buildings.
The 165-acre industrial park receives water, sewer, police and fire services from Pasco County. Its electric services are provided by the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative and its telephone and Internet services are provided by Verizon.
Besides its enviable location, the industrial park has other strengths, Tuttle-Beisner said. “It’s a very attractive industrial park,” she said, mentioning that it 105 acres of permanent conservation space. It also has restrictive covenants that provide strict architectural controls.
The industrial park is zoned light industrial and has office, warehouse and manufacturing sites available. The available sites are 12.5 acres, 10 acres and 6 acres, she said. There’s also 29,700 square feet of space available for lease in one building and 31,500 square feet available in another. One of the buildings is dock high and the other is ground level, she said.
At the dock-high building, the floor is raised so trucks can pull up to a loading dock to load and unload. At the ground-level building, the garage door is at ground level. Tenants in that building tend to be service-oriented companies that require office space but don’t need to move a lot of goods in and out, Beisner-Tuttle said.
The proximity of the Tampa North Aero Park also is a plus because some companies that have planes like the notion of having a private airport next door, Beisner-Tuttle said.
Despite a recent prediction by Florida economist Chris Jones that Pasco would be slow to rebound from the recession, Tuttle-Beisner is optimistic about Wesley Chapel’s prospects.
She said it’s hard to predict how fast the recovery will be in different parts of Pasco County.
“Pasco County is so diverse,” she said. “Over on US 19 is entirely different than it is here,” she said.
COMPARK 75 is in an excellent location for an industrial park, she said.
“The next industrial park is in Hillsborough County (to the south). You don’t really get anything else until you get to SR 52 (to the north),” she said.
She also thinks that Pasco County’s aggressive incentives to attract jobs and Gov. Rick Scott’s obvious pro-business attitude will help to lure new companies and jobs to both the county and state.
