Franklin Street Brokers Sale of 160,000-SF Floriland Office Center in Tampa to Tampa Bay Christian Academy

TAMPA, Florida — Franklin Street has brokered the sale of Floriland Office Center, a roughly 161,000-square-foot office and retail complex at 9309 N. Florida Ave. in Tampa, to Tampa Bay Christian Academy (TBCA), the firm announced Sept. 16. FL 9-14 Fund LLC, a Delaware-domiciled limited liability company registered to do business in Florida, was the seller.

The property, built in 1972 and renovated around 2006, sits on approximately 11.41 acres at the northeast corner of N. Florida Ave. and E. Busch Blvd. in Northwest Tampa. TBCA intends to relocate its campus to the site, which will accommodate the school's current enrollment of roughly 600 students with room for additional growth. Franklin Street Property Management has been retained to manage the facility on behalf of the buyer.

A Two-Year Search for an Urban Infill Campus

Pat Kelly, regional managing director at Franklin Street, said the search for a suitable site spanned two years and presented uncommon challenges for the buyer.

"Helping Tampa Bay Christian Academy identify a new site for its growing community presented a set of unique challenges over a two-year process," Kelly said. "The Floriland Office Center, a former mall converted to non-profit office and retail space, was the needle in the haystack our client was looking for as it fits TBCA's space needs to accommodate growth and provide traditional school amenities to its students. Infill sites like this in the urban core are rare and don't often become available."

TBCA required a location capable of housing 600 students and offering traditional school amenities including a cafeteria, outdoor recreation space, offices, and classrooms. The property's approximately 758 surface parking spaces — a ratio of roughly 4.7 spaces per 1,000 square feet — and its single-story, large-footprint configuration made it well suited to those requirements.

Because TBCA operates as a nonprofit funded substantially by the State of Florida, with no tuition paid out of pocket by families, the acquisition was financed through tax-exempt bonds rather than conventional commercial debt. A tax-exempt bond issuance of approximately $20.7 million, structured as new money, closed in August 2026 in connection with the campus acquisition and related improvements. The surrounding tenant base — including Ultimate Medical Academy, a nursing school and Franklin Street client that has occupied a significant portion of the building — helped support the financing narrative for bond holders.

Adaptive Reuse and Infill Scarcity Drive the Deal

Anthony Suarez, associate director at Franklin Street, said the transaction reflects two converging trends shaping Tampa's commercial real estate market.

"This transaction is representative of two converging trends in Tampa's commercial real estate landscape," Suarez said. "Adaptive reuse of aging retail and office assets for educational and institutional purposes and the increasing difficulty of finding large-scale infill sites in the urban core both prevalent within the region. Floriland Center's evolution illustrates how older commercial buildings can be repositioned to meet needs that new construction on the suburban fringe often cannot replicate."

Floriland Office Center's history tracks that broader pattern. Originally developed as a retail mall in the early 1970s, the property was subsequently converted into a multi-tenant office and nonprofit hub. At the time of sale, the building was approximately 98% leased, with Ultimate Medical Academy occupying multiple suites totaling roughly 117,988 square feet as the anchor tenant. Other tenants included additional nonprofit and education-oriented users, a profile that helped establish the building's institutional character ahead of TBCA's acquisition.

The property's location — with direct access to Interstate 275 and E. Busch Blvd. — places the future school campus within reach of families across Northwest Tampa, according to Franklin Street.

TBCA Positioned Among Region's Largest Christian Schools

With the acquisition complete, Tampa Bay Christian Academy has positioned itself as one of the largest Christian schools in the Tampa Bay region, with capacity to increase enrollment well beyond its current 600 students. The school's nonprofit structure and state funding model, which eliminates out-of-pocket tuition costs for families, adds an institutional dimension to the campus's role in the community.

Kelly and Suarez of Franklin Street represented the seller, FL 9-14 Fund LLC, in the transaction. Franklin Street Property Management will oversee ongoing operations of the facility on behalf of TBCA going forward.

Franklin Street is a privately held, full-service commercial real estate services firm headquartered in Tampa. The firm provides capital markets, insurance, leasing, and management services to owners and occupiers nationwide and was founded in 2006.

Sources

Franklin Street — Franklin Street Brokers the Sale of Floriland Office Center in Tampa (Sept. 16, 2026)