Jabil plans to sell 93-acre Gandy site

St. Pete-based manufacturing giant Jabil Inc. is under contract to sell more than 93 acres of the land it once was considering as the location for its HQ.

Earlier this month, the City’s Community Planning & Preservation Commission unanimously approved a zoning change and future land use map amendment for land at the northwest corner of the Gandy Boulevard and I-275 interchange, land that could be used to build multi-family units and industrial warehouses.  

The entire 93.38-acre site is owned by Jabil (NYSE: JBL), the largest company headquartered in St. Petersburg. Jabil had a prior development agreement with the city to develop 450,000 square feet of office space, 500,000 square feet of light industrial, and 50,000 square feet of retail on the 93 acres, according to city documents. However, Jabil decided to demolish its original headquarters building at 10800 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N. and is building a new headquarters, a $61 million, 190,000-square-foot facility there.

Jabil is under contract to sell the massive site to Greystar Development East LLC, a subsidiary of South Carolina-based Greystar Real Estate Partners, which is one of the largest multi-family developers, said Don Mastry, a shareholder at the St. Petersburg office of the Trenam law firm who represents many developers and landowners. 

Greystar would be able to develop up to 500 multi-family units on the site with the requirement that 20% of the units would be dedicated to workforce housing restricted to those making under 120% of the area median income.

Meanwhile, approximately 61.1 acres could be used to build 1 million gross square feet of industrial uses and the remaining 14.37 acres would be preserved.  

Under the agreement, Greystar would first have to build at least 200,000 square feet of industrial before initiating the multi-family development. 

Mastry said the developer would be able to build 500,000 to 600,000 square feet of industrial space. 

The proposed industrial project will be the largest industrial development Pinellas County has seen in some time. The developer estimates that the industrial project will result in at least 3,300 jobs, according to city documents. 

Mastry said the land use and zoning change will have the first reading Sept. 9. The city council will take up the item in October. If the council approves it, additional approvals will follow.