Tampa-based Celestar Corp. plans technology, defense hub development in Tampa Heights

May 19, 2015

 
Ashley Gurbal Kritzer | Tampa Bay Business Journal
 
A Tampa defense contractor is planning a new office development in Tampa Heights that its CEO envisions as a hub for defense and technology companies.
 
Beyond office space, the project’s supporters hope the development can be a catalyst for better connecting the Tampa business community with MacDill Air Force Base. Creating an ecosystem for businesses that support MacDill could create the kind of dynamic seen in Northern Virginia’s Dulles Technology Corridor or Research Triangle in North Carolina.
 
Those places have become magnets for technology companies and young talent — which can drive the rest of the city’s economy, spurring residential and commercial development.
 
Celestar Corp. CEO Gregory Celestan said Tuesday that he is planning a 60,000-square-foot office building on the corner of West Seventh and North Highland avenues in Tampa Heights — across West Seventh Avenue from Ulele, the restaurant and microbrewery that Tampa restaurateur Richard Gonzmart opened last year.
 
“We knew there was a demand and a requirement [for a defense and military hub],” Celestan said. “We just needed something to get it all together.”
 
Celestar will take about 15,000 square feet, having outgrown its 10,000-square-foot building on U.S. Highway 92, near the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.