City Center renovations are more than just aesthetics; ownership is focusing on tenant amenities.
“At the end of the day, an office building is a commodity. It becomes a “price-only” business unless you do something with your product that’s different. By creating a series of amenities in our buildings, we set ourselves apart from our competition. Although City Center was already a Class A building, there were certain elements that we felt needed upgrading in order to make it the number one building in downtown St. Petersburg. City Center has an excellent location and stunning waterfront views,” stated Larry Feldman, CEO of Feldman Equities, Inc. “We set out to distinguish our building from our competitors by installing a series of tenant amenities that would help us attract new tenants and retain existing tenants. Renovating an office building is not only about enhancing the building’s architecture with a series of aesthetic upgrades. Tenants are looking for an overall “live, work and play” experience.” To that end, our new amenities include:
• An all new on-site Fitness Center. Please note this facility is one of finest fitness facilities in any office building in Tampa. Over $200,000 has been invested in this facility, which includes 10 all new high-tech aerobic machines, each with 100 channels of cable TV, weight training and showers. The fitness center’s bathrooms have tile floors and granite countertops.
• An existing Café serves breakfast, lunch, and is capable of tenant catering. The café is being upgraded with an atrium café consisting of new tables surrounded by a bamboo planter boxes.
• An on-site Conference Center that seats up to 65 people was upgraded for WIFI communications and an audio visual projector.
• The parking garage was recently upgraded with a new lighting system that makes the garage a much brighter and safer space. Garage walls are being refinished and re-painted.
• Work has been completed on several of the multi-tenanted floor elevator lobbies. “We now have the prettiest elevator lobbies in the Tampa Bay office market,” stated Feldman. The Scandinavian style elevator lobby makeovers include high end finishes such as blond oak wood paneling, dark wood base and all granite floors. Bathrooms on the tenant floors have “slab granite” sinks and porcelain tile floors. Our tenant bathrooms resemble what you might see in a high-end home.
• Our guard booth is being upgraded to become a concierge desk clad in a fine wood. The new concierge desk will resemble what you might see in a major Manhattan office building.
• We recently completed the installation of a state-of-the-art energy management system. The new system has sharply decreased energy consumption, thereby reducing operating expense pass-throughs to tenants. At the same time, we have improved the quality of air conditioning being delivered to tenants. The elevators are also receiving makeovers starting with upgrades of the elevator mechanical systems of both the garage and building elevators. The mechanical improvements to the elevators will be followed by new interior finishes to the elevator cabs.
Additional Amenities
• City Center has full time on-site management and on-site ownership.
• City Center is home to a Northern Trust bank branch and an ATM machine.
• The atrium lobby features a glass skylight ceiling suspended 65 feet above a marble floor with abundant sunlight. City Center provides unmatched views of Tampa Bay and the downtown St. Pete skyline.
• City Center has a much higher “window to floor area ratio” than most buildings. This results in much more natural sunlight & perimeter offices.
• Waterfront location with near immediate access to:
• a) the Hilton Hotel
• b) the high-end Signature Place condo
• c) the renovated Mahaffey Theater
• d) the all new Dali museum.
• 6 Story Parking Garage with ample capacity and fully shaded spaces accessed by a rain protected portico.
Ownership of City Center has secured over 50,000 square feet of new leases during 2011. City Center has outperformed all other owners of office buildings in downtown St. Petersburg as a result of the above amenity package, coupled with an aggressively priced rental rates.