TAMPA — Jeff Vinik's downtown real estate empire is expanding west — west of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, that is.

The Tampa Bay Lightning owner's development company, Strategic Property Partners, said Friday that one of its subsidiaries bought 4.12 acres of vacant downtown land at the corner of Brorein and Morgan streets.

Vinik already owns more than 25 acres on the east side of the expressway, along with the lease to Amalie Arena, Channelside Bay Plaza and the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina in the southern corner of downtown Tampa. This is the first time Vinik has acquired downtown property west of the overpass that runs through the city.

Vinik is planning to unveil his long-awaited master plan for redeveloping that area on Wednesday. But one of his real estate executives said this latest acquisition will not be a part of that unveiling.

"We believe this property is a solid long-term investment," SPP chief operating officer Jim Shimberg said in a statement, "but we currently have no plans or long-term vision other than its current use — parking."

The price was not disclosed because the legal paperwork has not yet been submitted to the clerk's office.

Though there could be several uses for Vinik's latest purchase, supporting a baseball stadium doesn't appear to be one of them.

SPP said that the property is zoned for 450,000 square feet of office space and 350 hotel rooms.

One of Vinik's top real estate executives, Bob Abberger, tried to build a 20-story tower on top of the same footprint in 2011.

The $350 million project called for building a 20-story, 450,000-square-foot office tower and a 300,000-square-foot upscale hotel with 350 rooms and a 1,200-car parking garage on top of 4 acres there. It never happened, though.

Vinik may not be done, either, because there's more land left to buy around that 4.12-acre parcel. There's still a 1.2-acre parcel at Florida Avenue and Brorein Street, and a 180,000-square-foot parking garage sitting on a 1.25-acre parcel along Whiting Street.

A spokesman for Vinik declined to comment.

Contact Jamal Thalji at thalji@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3404. Follow @jthalji.