EastGroup Properties has filed permits for the first warehouse at the planned Bell Creek Logistics Center in Riverview, advancing a redevelopment that will convert a former office campus into a five-building speculative industrial park spanning more than 550,000 square feet.
The permit covers a roughly 113,000-square-foot warehouse on Crescent Park Drive near Interstate 75. It is the first major vertical building permit filed for the project since the industrial real estate investment trust acquired the 66-acre property for approximately $32 million in 2025, when it announced plans to replace the existing office complex with a Class A logistics campus.
Plans call for Bell Creek to include five warehouse buildings totaling 552,377 square feet. The first phase consists of two speculative buildings totaling 225,531 square feet, which marketing materials indicate are expected to be delivered in the first quarter of 2027.
Unlike build-to-suit developments that begin after tenants commit to lease space, Bell Creek is planned as a speculative project, meaning EastGroup intends to construct the first buildings before announcing occupants. The strategy reflects the company’s long-standing focus on what the industrial real estate sector calls shallow-bay facilities, typically serving tenants seeking between 20,000 and 100,000 square feet rather than the million-square-foot distribution centers developed for large e-commerce operators.
“We continue to be pleased by the resiliency of the shallow bay industrial market,” Chief Executive Marshall Loeb said when EastGroup announced the acquisition and redevelopment plans in May 2025.
Bell Creek represents the latest expansion of EastGroup’s Tampa Bay portfolio, which the company has steadily grown around major transportation corridors. Marketing materials highlight the site’s access to Interstate 75, U.S. 301, Interstate 4, Interstate 275 and the Selmon Expressway, placing it within minutes of the Port of Tampa, downtown Tampa and Tampa International Airport.
Once Bell Creek and two other developments currently in the pipeline are completed, EastGroup has said its Tampa portfolio will total approximately 5.4 million square feet.
The investment comes as industrial development has become more selective following several years of rapid warehouse construction. Even so, EastGroup has continued to pursue new projects, reporting in late May 2025 that its portfolio was 96.8% leased and 95.7% occupied, while executives said leasing activity was meeting or slightly exceeding expectations.
Marketing materials describe the first warehouse as a rear-load facility with 32-foot clear heights, ESFR fire suppression, 28 dock-high loading doors, two drive-in ramps and electrical service that can be expanded from 800 amps to 1,600 amps. The building is designed to accommodate tenants requiring as little as 30,000 square feet.
Representatives of EastGroup Properties and CBRE were not immediately available for comment Tuesday.
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