With the hustle and bustle of Downtown St.Pete's residential real estate market, you may never notice the impact that the boom is having on downtown's office market. Over the past few years Feldman Equities, led by CEO Larry Feldman, and their partners, have been making their mark on Downtown St.Pete's office scene by scooping up underperforming office buildings.

After acquiring City Center, at 100 2nd Ave S, in January 2011 they pumped $3 million in capital improvements into the building focusing on tenant amenities. Improved amenities include an all new on-site fitness center, updated parking garage, and updated lobbies. Over their holding period Feldman has seen occupancy in City Center increase from 44% to now near full occupancy with a less than 3,300 square feet of vacant space.

Since acquiring City Center, Feldman Equities and their team have also purchased Morgan Stanley Tower, at 150 2nd Ave N, and First Central Tower, at 360 Central Ave, with the hope of expanding the success of City Center to their other assets. “We purchased these underperforming assets and are implementing our winning strategy of extensive renovations and amenity upgrades to fill vacancies and maximize value,” Feldman said.

Multi-million dollar renovations to both Morgan Stanley Tower and First Central Tower will occur this year with lobby renovations to Morgan Stanley Tower finishing up this summer and renovations at First Central Tower finishing up by the end of the year. These renovations, coupled with an aggressive pricing strategy, will hopefully further increase occupancy at the two towers which stand at 98% for Morgan Stanley Tower, up from 65% at the time of acquisition, and 50% for recently acquired First Central Tower. Renovations will be modeled after the City Center building and will include a luxury fitness center, updated parking garage, renovated lobby, and a concierge desk.

Downtown St.Pete's residential market isn't the only thing booming, the success of downtown's office market means more jobs for Downtown St.Pete and potentially new office building developments in the future.

Check out the lobby renovation plans for each tower below: