Four Seasons Residences
630feet... 51-stories
472-unit condo tower...Includes ~18k retail
Approved. In sales.

http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/2004/mar/0326arc2.jpg



Unnamed Whiting & Ashley Condo
593feet... 50 stories
213 unit condo tower
Proposed (well along in the approval process)

http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/2004/mar/0325cnd2.jpg


Art Center Lofts - nearly complete
5 story lofts with 50 units or so
http://www.artcenterlofts.com/images/rendering.jpg

DT Westin... 20 stories, 373 rooms... Approved. On hold.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/514/8tampawestin_front.jpg

Lindell development on Harbour Island
3 X 20-story condos featuring 360 total units and ground level retail. Developer claims construction will begin on the first tower in the spring.

No Rendering Available


Stetson College of Law - Tampa campus (recently completed)
http://www.law.stetson.edu/new/tampalawcampussm.jpg

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/12/images/xlarge/B_4_4bstetson_176861_0112.jpg

New Tampa Museum of Art - have a lot of funding, need a little more. Construction has been announced to begin early next year.
http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/2003/0219arts1.jpg

History Center - All funding in place. Some preliminary site work has taken place. Construction will be gin in early 2005.

Bank of America Tampa Height Project (site cleared. On hold, waiting for Malfunction Junction construction to be completed)
3x10 story condo/apartment buildings and town homes - a redevelopment of a worn out area near the Stetson campus
http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/dev1.jpg

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/dev2.jpg

Park Crest at Harbour Island - 8-stories - nearly complete
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/02/21/photos/stp-PARKCREST.jpg

Hillsborough County Center Parking Garage - 10 stories - (recently complete)

GTE Federal Credit Union HQ - 4 stories - nearly complete
http://www.gtefcu.org/images/Fact%20Sheet_0001.gif




East Tampa

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - 14 stories - 175ft... (recently complete)
http://www.hardrock.com/locations/hotels/tampa/images/tampa_rendering.jpg
http://www.cordish.com/images/developments/hrtampa_g01.jpg





Westshore area of Tampa

Tampa Bay One
Two 15 story office buildings, 21 story Hotel/Condo - approved. On hold. waiting for big tenant


Renaissance Hotel- International Plaza - recently complete
9-story Hotel attached to schmancy mall

apparently they managed to push this unsightly box to 177 feet, which is impressive - though the building is not.

http://www.shopinternationalplaza.com/photos/5439.jpg


Corporate center Three - recently complete
10-story office building near International Plaza

On a side note, the same developer plans to consecutively build two more 10 story office towers across the street (Cornerstone Plaza). They are seeking tenants now.

Days Inn Rocky Point Redevelopment
12 story Westin hotel and 12 story condo. Proposed




Channelside[/b]


Pinnacle Place - 624ft observation tower - 2 X 40 story condominium towers, 8 story hotel
The development will include a 4,000 seat amphitheater, 400 room hotel, 70k sqft of retail, 150k sqft of office space and 400 total residential units.
Approved. In sales

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2004/jan/pinnacle1.jpg

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2004/jan/pinnacle2.jpg


Downtown Channelside - Twin 30 story towers - 310ft - 250 units - 40k sqft of retail... Approved. Sold out.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/514/8tampa_channelside_30_story_condo_rendering.jpg


Towers At Channelside
Twin 30 story condo towers- 360ft - 260 units, 35k sqft of retail...
Approved and in sales

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2004/jan/0111channel1.jpg

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/02/images/TP_176381_HO_towers02_1.JPG


Ventana Condos - twin 9 story towers. 96 units and 14k sqft of retail. Plan to break ground in spring of 2005
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/514/8channelside_condo_rendering2.jpg

The Meridian - 6 stories - 35 units - U/C
http://www.meridianlofts.com/images/home2Rendering.jpg

Grand Central at Kennedy - Twin 14 story towers - 496 units - 125k sqft retail - 70k sqft office - Almost sold out - Expect to break ground in early 2005.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/514/8grand_central_at_kennedy_elevation_1.jpg

Seaport Town Centre at Channelside - In schematic redesign phase - 400+ units - hieght unknown, though nothing over 6 stories is expected.


Victory Lofts - 89 units - 4 and 7 story buildings U/C (topped out)
http://www.tampagov.net/dept_Planning/research_section/major_development_2002/web_images/4_299.jpg

http://www.victorylofts.com/images/lt_vb_pic2.gif

http://www.victorylofts.com/images/lt_vb_pic4.gif

1000 Channelside, 950 Channelside - 30 lofts - 7 office suites--- (Both phases will be nearly indentical in look)- In sales
http://www.tampachanneldistrict.org/Events/Campbe1.jpg

The Place at Channelside - 8 stories - 220 units - In sales
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/8the_place_12-03_tribune.jpg

12th Street Townhomes - 26 units - Proposed - no rendering available




BAYSHORE


One Bayshore- the rendering is the 17-story condo building, but there is also , townhouses and ground retail - Condo U/C (topped out)

There is also a 2nd condo tower which will be smaller, but a bit taller. Perhaps 20-22 stories.

http://www.crescent-resources.com/condos/onebayshore/images/rendering.jpg

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/514/8one_bayshore_new_elevations.jpg

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/downtown3.jpg


Citivest 24 stories. Pending approval. It may wind up becoming a short slab, due to unreasonably rigid NIMBYism.
Here is the location
http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/2003/0503bay2.jpg

Bellamy 23-story Condo U/C
http://www.thebellamy.com/img/thebellamy.jpg

The Alagon... 24 stories. U/C
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/514/8tampabayshore_alagon.jpg

There is also a 5-story office building that just went up in the area.

Also, the city is going to tear up railroad tracks indicated in the map and reconnect the area to downtown as seen in the rendering
http://www.tampasdowntown.com/newmap/channel_district.gif

Oh, yea I forgot

One Bayshore- the rendering is the 17-story condo building, but there is also a 25-story apartment building, townhouses and ground retail - as best as I can tell, this will get going a month or two
http://www.crescent-resources.com/condos/onebayshore/images/rendering.jpg

Just a final note - One Bayshore is across the river from Downtwon Tampa

I'll just keep this floating near the top a little longer

Its great to see all of these high density developments proposed in the area. With projects like Bank of America's condos, Stetson Law School and GTE's Federal Credit Union and the proposed streetcar expansion, I'm seriously thinking about moving to Tampa Heights, while the prices are still reasonable. I also think its time for the city to start making downtown more pedestrian friendly by doing some streetscaping and converting some one way streets into two-way streets.

A blurb from today's Trib referring to what sounds like a new proposal.




In another Channel District project, a seven-story, mixed- use structure is planned for Channelside Drive between Whiting and Washington streets, including retail and an art gallery on 12th Street.

Developer Fida H. Sirdar said groundbreaking for the 220 loft units should take place in January 2004. Sirdar, along with the architect firm Curts Gaines Hall of Ybor City, will present plans at 5:30 tonight for the complex at the Channel District neighborhood meeting at The Florida Aquarium.

I just want to see some cranes - like the apartments onm Harbour Island, which are there (and really One Bayshore - for which I am waiting)

This is the Renaizzance Hotel - apparently they managed to push this unsightly box to 177 feet, which is impressive - though the building is not.

http://www.shopinternationalplaza.com/photos/5439.jpg

As if on cue:

Condo Under Way

Builders broke ground Wednesday on Parkside at One Bayshore, a 17-story, luxury condominium building at Bayshore Boulevard and Platt Street near downtown Tampa. The 104-unit building is part of Crescent Resources' planned One Bayshore project, which will include office and retail space.

Here's another one - no indication of how tall:
Condos, stores, more planned at The Place
By CORY SCHOUTEN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 17, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TAMPA - More than 60 people got a glimpse Wednesday of plans for The Place at Channelside, the latest of several development proposals that could draw thousands of residents downtown.

Developers unveiled the plans, which include between 180 and 220 condominiums, at a meeting of the Channel District Council at the Florida Aquarium. Developers said it is too early to estimate how much the units will cost.

Most neighbors seemed to support the proposal, which is expected to go before the City Council in September.

"It's so magnificent that someone wants to build this here," said Kim Markham, a member of the Channel District Council.

Key Developers Group president Fida Sirdar said several features of the proposed building are consistent with the artsy feel of the neighborhood. He plans to have subsidized artists' studios and free display space along 12th Street, a commissioned mural along Washington Street and street sculptures along sidewalks.

Markham, one of the area's first residents, said she supports the building, but has concerns about the city's ability to keep pace with the growth. In recent years, about 1,500 new residences have been proposed for the Channel District, which now has about 20.

Markham said she hopes the city designates the Channel District as a Community Redevelopment Area. The designation could help address problems with traffic and drainage, by allowing additional tax revenues to be spent in the district.

The Place at Channelside would include more than 10,000 square feet of retail space and 355 parking spaces and occupy nearly an entire city block, bordered by Channelside Drive, Whiting Street, 12th and Washington.

Other features include a lap pool, trees and private cabanas above two levels of parking and organic gardens and a pet park on the roof.

Ok, five stories - this thing must be huge
Multimillion-dollar mixed-use loft project announced
Ken Salgat
A mixed-use loft project valued at more than $60 million was announced Wednesday evening to members of the Channel District Council.

The Place at Channelside is in early planning stages. It comprises 2.15 acres enclosed by Channelside Drive, 12th Street, Whiting Street and Washington Street.

Plans for The Place at Channelside call for a bottom level of retail and parking along Channelside Drive and 12th Street, a second story of parking and residential and a stepped design of 3 stories residential rising to a total of 5 stories.

Developer Fida Sirdar expects anywhere from 180 to 220 units will make up the residential portion, along with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space on the bottom level.

Sirdar, president of Key Developers Group LLC in Tampa, said he plans to go before the Tampa City Council Sept. 25 with a rezoning request.

"I don't expect we're going to run into any difficulties with the council," said Sirdar.

The rezoning would allow The Place at Channelside to exceed the current zoning height requirement of 60 feet.

With its planned "pedestrian" signature, the project should help define the character of the Channelside area, where one loft project is under way and two others recently have been announced, said Sirdar.

What adds credence to the project is that Victory Lofts, which recently broke ground, abuts the northwest corner of the proposed development, Sirdar said.

Sirdar expects plans to proceed on a pace that will allow Key Developers to break ground the first of the year.

No price points have been set, but Sirdar expects to attract young buyers that exceed $50,000 in annual income or more, he said.

The plans met with guarded approval by the Channel District Council, whose members raised numerous questions regarding the pedestrian atmosphere, the value to the area and the impact of increased traffic on Channelside Drive. The council is a neighborhood organization geared at promoting the redevelopment in th area.

Sirdar said a traffic impact study is under way, and he expects the data in time for the Sept. 25 city council hearing.

impressive list smiley...apparently it seems like loft projects are popular everywhere with developers now. Are most of these being built near downtown?

this map is not exactly clear, but let's look:
http://www.tampasdowntown.com/newmap/channel_district.gif

The railraod tracks on this map cut 'Channelside" from the main part of downtown. Channelside is a warehaouse area where most of the lofts are going in. The railroad trakcs will be removed (supposedly) and Channelside reconnected to the downtown grip.

As the moment, the areas seem very far apart because most of the downtown area near the tracks is surface parking, then an expressway, then the tracks. But in reality, I would estimate from the tracks to the nearest part of downtown in hte MIddle is about 4-5 blocks and on Kennedy is one block. IF these projects, or ones like them are built and the grid is reconnected, this will be for all intents and purposes a downtown neighborhood.

This makes it easier to understand:
Yellow is Channelside
Purple (in the middle), the main part of "downtown"
AquaMarine - Island just to the south of Downtown is Harbour Island.
Bluish - Off to the right at the top is Ybor City.
Green at the top is Tampa Heights.
Yellow on Bottom Left is Hyde Park - scene of One Bayshore and our problematic 400 ft condo.
The Island below that is Davis Island, where nothing big is going on, but it is getting nicer by the day.
Red- right across from downtown is a weird area with the University of Tampa and some buildings, but a lot of empty lots - I think it should be all condos and stores, but I don't onw it (Hillsbrough River Tower will never be built here - which is why I don't even list it)
That little blue line from Channeside to Ybor is the streetcar - you will notice that most of the projects for Channelside and Downtown are within a coupld of blocks of it.
http://www.print2webcorp.com/news/tampa/intown/20030627/img/a_3_p6_7.jpg

Wierd. That blurb I posted is about the same project (loft on Channelside)... One story quotes it at 7 stories, and the other at 5. Since the article depicting it as 5 stories wasn't written until after the public proposal, I assume it to be correct...

I assume you didn't go to the meeting then?

Go One BAyshore. Now we need to find out when the apartment building is going up. Together they will make quite an impact.

No I forgot that I couldn't go, because I had to work for the Bucs last night (orientation and stuff for this season). I had to work from 6-9pm and that was pretty much when the meeting was...


BTW, Is there any word yet on whether that hotel/condo project was approved for SoHo? I sure hope that it is approved at 5-6 stories. I saw a VR presentation of it, and it looked pretty sharp. I think that it would be awesome to see SoHo to eventually have a bit of a "streetwall", framed by 3-8 story buildings.

Here's a couple of different views of some of the previous announced projects and a couple others not mentioned.

Washington Street Crossings - Channel District - 30 residential units & 26,000sf of retail/office space
http://www.channelside.com/images/washington/rendering.jpg
First Floor Plan
http://www.channelside.com/images/washington/floorplan1.jpg
Second Floor Plan
http://www.channelside.com/images/washington/floorplan2.jpg

Victory Lofts - Channel District -2 buildings, 85 residential units-broke ground on June 10, 2003
http://www.victorylofts.com/images/lt_mt_pic2.gif
http://www.victorylofts.com/images/lt_mt_pic3.jpg
http://www.victorylofts.com/images/lt_vb_pic2.gif
http://www.victorylofts.com/images/lt_vb_pic7.jpg

The Meridian - Channel District - 35 loft units
http://www.meridianlofts.com/images/eleevation_LO_WEB.gif

aerial of 12th Street operation yard
http://www.tampachanneldistrict.org/RFP_02_07_03/Copy_of_12th_St_outlined_proposed_redevelppement.jpg

Parkside @ One Bayshore - site plan
http://www.crescent-resources.com/condos/onebayshore/images/siteplan.jpg

Sanctuary Lofts in Tampa Heights - 32 residential loft units
http://www.sanctuarylofts.com/IMG_0101.JPG

Sanctuary Lofts - rooftop terrace view of skyline
http://www.sanctuarylofts.com/images/Sanct%20Skyline.JPG

McNulty Lofts - St. Petersburg -
http://www.mcnultylofts.com/images/lifestyle_building.jpg

Nicely done.

As for the South Howard project (I refuse to call it the name manufactured in the early 1990's by people who did not grow up here [because it was never called that before]):

The Trib said rezoning was denied yesterday.

But I found this:
Developer promises a tower of luxury
Prospective buyers are offered wine, hors d'oeuvres and penthouses costing as much as $3.5-million.
By SHARON L. BOND, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 18, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ST. PETERSBURG - The next condominium tower to be built downtown will have huge penthouses, marble foyers, private elevators and prices as high as $3.5-million.

Details of the $100-million Parkshore Plaza, which will go up on Beach Drive near two existing luxury condo towers, were unveiled Thursday evening to a gathering of prospective buyers.

The original plans were announced in January, but Thursday was the first time details such as price had been fleshed out.

Five of the 119 units will be penthouses in the 29-story tower planned for the 300 block of Beach Drive NE.

The top floor, on what will be one of the taller buildings downtown at just over 300 feet, will be a single unit, a penthouse of 7,000 square feet, one of the larger ones downtown. Already a buyer is interested.

The penthouses are priced at $2.25-million to $3.5-million. The other condominium units, some of which will be located in a "U" around the tower, range in price from $268,000 to $1.2-million.

Opus South Development LLC, a subsidiary of Opus South Corp., hosted the preview for 300 guests. They sipped wine and mixed drinks and ate hors d'oeuvres while they checked out floor plans or listened to live music in the tent behind the sales office Opus just opened on the corner of Beach Drive and Fourth Avenue NE.

The national developer, which has offices in Tampa, hopes to begin construction on Parkshore Plaza by the end of the year. The start depends on how much interest is generated.

"They will be sold out on this thing, I predict, before they get started," said David Ray of Cornerstone Bank. He said he was in Thursday's crowd as a businessman, not as a prospective buyer.

Carl Lindell lives on Culbreath Isles in a 10,000-square-foot house in Tampa and has homes in Colorado and North Carolina. He is seriously interested in the penthouse. He owns car dealerships, including Lindell Mazda on Tyrone Boulevard, and he has a housing development going in Pasco County. He would have to get used to a 30-minute commute to Tampa.

"It's the beauty and lifestyle of the whole thing. The marina, the airport, the parks, the museums," said Lindell, who knows the developers, which makes the project attractive to him.

Dr. Ian Phillips is vice president for research at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He has a laboratory at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. He is renting a townhouse in Tampa Palms but is interested in Parkshore Plaza.

"It's a dilemma for me to know exactly where to live," said Phillips, who said he loves both Tampa and St. Petersburg. He saw the sign outside the sales office, called and was invited to the preview.

Parkshore Plaza will be the third of four residential towers on Beach Drive. Built there in the past few years are the Cloisters and the Florencia. After Parkshore Plaza, Opus plans another condominium project in the 400 block of Beach Drive, which is largely vacant now.

Also in the wings is Grady Pridgen's $50-million project with a 42-story tower and 277 units. It would be a few blocks away, near BayWalk, and would be the city's tallest building. And Echelon Residential Development LLC is building five stories of lofts, 85 total, on top of its garage downtown at McNulty Station.

While Pridgen plans a restaurant for the roof of his tower, most of the condos reserve the top floor for pricy penthouses.

The Florencia has one that measures 7,652 square feet, while Vinoy Place has one that is 5,300. Some units in Bayfront Tower have been combined to produce homes of 3,200 square feet.

At Parkshore Plaza, tower homes will be built in 26 of the 29 floors, leaving the first three floors for a two-story lobby with concierge, fitness room and social areas such as a media room that leads out to the pool.

Each of the residential floors, except for the top three, will have four units ranging in size from 2,500 square feet to 3,100 square feet, said Jerry T. Shaw, senior vice president at Opus. He is based in Tampa.

Floors 27 and 28 will have only two condominiums each. Those units will be about 4,800 square feet in size.

"What we are offering is very good value," Shaw said. "We are very competitive in the marketplace."

The portion of the 300 block of Beach Drive where Parkshore Plaza will be built now is occupied by the an old-style motel, the Beach Park Motor Inn, and a parking lot. It is unclear how soon the Beach Park will be demolished.

The tower will sit in the center of the property. The U-shaped ring around it will include the least expensive of the units on the second and third floors above shops and cafes at the street level. Townhomes will face First Street N, and so-called city homes will face Third Avenue NE and Beach Drive.

Parking is separate from the tower, Shaw said. On the east side there will be two levels of parking topped by the pool deck. On the west side, there will be three levels of parking. Each unit will get two parking spaces. Parking for the retail will be separate from that of the residences.
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/18/Southpinellas/Developer_promises_a_.shtml

I wonder what the heck is going on with Tamp Bay One? And I also wonder what will come of the Tampa Bay Center site, now that the Bucs apparently own it...

So many developments, do you think all of them will get built?

Ususally I'd say 40% will get built, but that used to be office space. Housing is another issue -the area is constantly receiving new residents and the prices are not that high compared with large northern cities.

I estimate that within 5 years 65-75% will get started.

I estimate that within 5 years. we will have seen all of these get built in terms of numbers. However, the individual projects will undoubtedly go through changes in form, ownership and program.

I'm actually quite pleased with Iorio so far. She seems to be much, much more pro-downtown than she ever let on during the elections.

Clearly the projects will mutate, and, in some case, be replaced by other projects, but I maintain that 65-75% of these basic concepts will get put on these lots. It will be very nice.

As for Iorio, I think she really understands that development - especially redevelopmenta nd infill - creates a bigger tax base which allows you to do more, which helps the tax base, which helps development, etc. etc. . . .

More news on One Bayshore - the emails

From me:

I read recently that ground was broken on the condominium building.
What is the status of the apartment building? Thanks

The Reply:

will be coming out of the ground within the next few weeks.............. thx, jim

SWEET.

That's refreshing to hear. I hope this building trend reaches all of those former industrial lots now used for parking between downtown and the Crosstown Expressway. One of the city's goals should be to have a continuous build up area that connects the Channel District to downtown.

I notice alot of these are condos as opposed to office space, is there that much of a demand for residentials?

Yes, Tampa is one of the country's leading cities for job and population growth. Condo development has been booming all over Florida, from Destin and Jacksonville down to Naples and Miami. Locally, there have already been several successful high rise residential projects build in St. Petersburg and Sarasota, now the trend is beginning to kick in to full gear in the city of Tampa.

Well, there are a number of factors. First, the office market is overbuilt. Second, the "urban" residential market is very underbuilt - essentially nothing, yet. Third, interest rates and immigration (from the US and elsewhere) drives resdential. Third, there is job growth and companies are relocating. Many of the people who relocate sell there houses in their old towns for higher than the average price in Tampa (which is relatively low) and are empty nesters or single, thus they have surplus housing money and buy these things.

In sum, market forces are favorable and residential is needed to make certain office markets more attractive so that they will blossom - particularly downtown.

Hitch may trim back proposal for tower
St. Petersburg is challenging a claim that size limits should not apply for the 42-story Bayway Lofts high-rise.
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 23, 2003

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ST. PETERSBURG - Developer Grady Pridgen's ambitious plan to build the city's tallest condominium tower has hit its first major obstacle, a setback that could dramatically affect the scope of the 42-story project.

City officials are challenging Pridgen's claim that his building should not be subject to size limits and have rejected his application for building permits.

This may not kill the proposed 510-foot tower, planned for a site at Third Avenue N between Second and Third streets where several empty houses stand. But it could mean Pridgen will have to reduce the height by as much as 50 percent unless he finds another way to reconfigure his building plans or shrink the size of the $50-million project.

Pridgen said he is "tweaking" his proposal and will meet with planners today to discuss proposed changes. For now, he's moving ahead with his plan for the 277-unit tower.

"We've always been good neighbors," Pridgen said. "And, as always, we want to build a quality project."

The city's concerns come as nearby residents are opposing the project.

"People are especially worried that the proposed building, which would be the largest in Pinellas County, would simply overwhelm a neighborhood that is primarily two- and three-story residential buildings," Timothy Baker, president of the North Downtown Neighborhood Association, wrote in a letter to City Council members.

Martha Haile lives in Huntington Townhomes, three-story residences next to the site of the proposed tower. She's afraid the building would cast a shadow over the entire complex.

"When we look out our second-story windows, we'll see nothing but parking garage," Haile said. "This really is out of character for our neighborhood."

While it is the tallest, Bayway Lofts isn't the only large-scale condominium project proposed for downtown St. Petersburg. Opus South Corp. plans to build two 30-story towers in the 300 and 400 blocks of Beach Drive NE.

Under city ordinance, developers can receive bonuses that allow them to exceed size restrictions in certain zoning districts. The bonuses are distributed in exchange for including such features as landscaping, trees and public art.

To accommodate Bayway Lofts, which will soar 125 feet above the Bank of America building, Pridgen asked for several bonuses.

The city is questioning two of them.

In his application, Pridgen said he was entitled to a bonus for devoting 10 percent of the development to open space.

However, the open space included in Pridgen's plans are a rooftop garden. The city says open space is supposed to be at ground level where it can be appreciated by all city residents.

Pridgen also said his project deserves another bonus for using an alternate energy source for the building. But his application does not provide details.

Pridgen said he plans to use solar energy for the building's electricity, as well as heating the water for residents and the tower's swimming pool.

Aside from those issues, the developer could seek additional bonuses to qualify for the full height, said John Hixenbaugh, the city's zoning official. He also said the city can't sign off on Pridgen's plans until the Federal Aviation Administration reviews what effect the project might have on Albert Whitted Airport.

The Environmental Development Commission will not consider the project until the FAA issues its ruling.

"Basically, it's just a waiting game right now," Pridgen said.

so now they want to reduce the height of the Bayway Lofts by 50%?.....that's incredible...it seems like the developer has a lot of obstacles to overcome just to get this project off the ground...just the mere mention of the FAA makes me cringe!

It won't be reduced that much. In fact, it might not be reduced at all when the politicians lean on the staff. St. PEte so desparately wants to be "big city" that I would not be surprised to have some quiet intervention. We shall see. . . Another option is just buy another nearby lot and stick trees on it - pocket the points.

I hope you're right, I want to see this project built at its full proposed height.

Tampa acquires old U.S. Courthouse

The General Services Administration on Wednesday approved the city of Tampa's application to transfer ownership of the former U.S. Courthouse building to the city.

The 100,000-square-foot building will be evaluated for uses that will serve as a catalyst for residential development downtown, city officials stated in a release.

The so-called "classic" courthouse was originally built to house the post office and customs house for the city and the Port of Tampa. In 1984, the property was converted for use as the federal courthouse and was occupied until completion of the current Sam M. Gibbons U.S. Courthouse in 1998.

link: http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2003/07/21/daily27.html

Didn't the City Council float the idea of using it as new space for council meetings and offices, as well as for other city government uses?


I think that it would have been great to renovate it and use it for a new DT library, which is sorely needed.

I never thought about it, but using that space as a new public library with limited retail uses, like a coffee bar, does make a lot of sense and it also puts more pedestrians on the street in that area.

A Fading Picture Of Tampa's Past

http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/2003/aug/0802hist.jpg
Rodney H. Kite-Powell, II, curator,
Tampa Bay History Center

By JANIS D. FROELICH jfroelich@tampatrib.com
Published: Aug 2, 2003

TAMPA - Hattricks is a favorite destination for historian Rodney Kite-Powell.
The young curator at the Tampa Bay History Center enjoys stopping at the downtown restaurant and sports bar after work. But he really loves to stand outside, soaking up historical vibes.

Kite-Powell, who rattles off historic dates like some people do sports statistics, imagines this 1908 brick building as a beehive of longshoremen and merchant marines.

The building at 107 S. Franklin St. not only still stands but, most importantly, is functional.

Preservation hasn't been the luck of most downtown historic buildings, built largely in the early 1900s.

In a 1979 survey, the Tampa/Hillsborough County Preservation Board counted 88 historic buildings downtown. Since then, 29 have been bulldozed.

In all, more than half of the 200-plus historic buildings that by 1920 housed a vibrant downtown business district are gone. Bulldozers chewed up landmarks that held insight about where Tampa residents shopped, dined, worked and strolled.

``These weren't shanties,'' said Becky Clarke, executive director of Tampa Preservation Inc. ``These were gems lost forever. If any more go, we'll become Anywhere USA.''

Clarke's 30-year-old organization, with 350 members, was formed when Tampa Theatre was threatened. ``Can you imagine our downtown without this?'' she said.

The group lost a fight to preserve two buildings by architect M. Leo Elliott, who favored an eclectic Mediterranean style in the 1920s. The 13-story First National Bank, 414-416 N. Franklin St., and the arcade and glazed terra cotta Tampa Gas Co., 415 N. Tampa St., gave way to Lykes Gaslight Park in 1995.

Although the city has a review process for buildings 50 years old or more, demolition remains highly likely for some, including the 82-year-old Maas Bros. building.


`It Drives Me Nuts'

The former grand-scale department store at 610 N. Franklin St. is beyond musty. And although city workers recently installed sidewalks and flowering bushes outside, the property stands condemned by the city.

The building sold for $1.5 million in 1998, according to county property appraiser's records. Owner Greg Hughes, a developer who has bought property on three city blocks, plans to replace it with a complex of apartments, condominiums, restaurants, retail space and offices called Renaissance Tampa.

``It drives me nuts to see these old buildings go,'' Kite- Powell said during a walking tour of downtown. ``There are plenty of empty lots. Why pick on the historical structures?''

Across from the Tampa Bay History Center, the Bush Ross Gardner Warren & Rudy law practice occupies the former Dixie Candy Co. at 220 S. Franklin St. The law offices include the 1917 building and two neighbors - a former liquor warehouse and the former Interstate Marble & Tile Co., a quaint building with exterior tile.

The firm bought the candy store building in 1984. ``We happily turned it over to the architects,'' Jeremy Ross said. ``Our lawyers came out of high-rises in midtown, so we wanted something smaller and older.''

But Ross predicts the buildings will be gone in a few years, as the Tampa Convention Center across the street expands.

``Downtown is neglected more than any place else right now,'' he said, citing Ybor City, Seminole Heights and Hyde Park as areas enjoying boom times.

At the corner of Franklin and Whiting streets, Kite-Powell pauses in front of a brick warehouse housing architect John Howey and other offices.

``You can see a high-rise anywhere, but an historic building gives this town character,'' he said.

The 1907 two-story building also might crumble because Howey plans a 50-story tower with condominiums and a hotel.

Trent Green, an associate professor of architecture at the University of South Florida, said it's sad to lose the city's historic fabric. But Green, whose students created a model of future downtown neighborhoods, said Tampa needs to follow the national trend of building new housing to supplement the old, as Chicago and Atlanta have done.

``Why haven't people rehabilitated more of these buildings?'' Green asked. ``Obviously it's the cost of getting them up to code, if the older buildings are still even sound structurally.''

Clarke said that until 1999, buildings could come down overnight without much fanfare. Now the city's Architectural Review Commission can delay demolitions for buildings more than 50 years old.

Buildings may be listed in the National Register of Historic Places, but they are protected from demolition only if they have local historic designation, Clarke said.

Prominent structures not under local safeguard include: Maas Bros.; Jackson House, 851 Zack St. (1901); and three major dime stores, S.H. Kress, 811 N. Franklin St. (1929), J.J. Newberry, 815-819 N. Franklin St. (1940), and Woolworth, 801 N. Franklin St. (1920). Also unprotected are two downtown churches: Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 509 Florida Ave. (1905), and St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 509 E. Twiggs St. (1929).

Clarke said opposition is ready if more downtown buildings face the scrap heap. But realistically, she said, ``It's hard to find money for these restorations.''


Neglect Is Also A Problem

What irks Clarke is owners destroying buildings by neglecting them. She wants the city to seal a building when an owner fails to close windows and secure doors. She then would like a lien imposed to force the owner to fix the property before selling it.

Curtis Lane, the city's code enforcement director, said the city steps in if a building is a safety hazard. If the owner doesn't respond to requests to make repairs, the city does the work and bills the owner. A lien may be placed on property if the city has problems collecting the costs.

``We would love to see buildings like Maas Bros. restored. We do not want to destroy history,'' Lane said. ``Our staff is acutely aware of how awful Maas and other structures look downtown. But like everybody else, we wait for developers.''

``Many buildings truly need TLC,'' said Annie Hart of the city's Historic Preservation office. She said federal, state and local tax breaks can help owners redevelop buildings, but first local historical designations must be applied for.

``If a building is truly threatened, we can put a high priority on the application process,'' Hart said.

On the office wall of preservation architect Stephanie Ferrell is a print of Chicago's Gold Coast, where luxury condominiums and tony shops attract thousands downtown. It reminds her of some 30 years ago when she was a ``baby architect'' visiting Chicago.

Ferrell became the impetus behind preservation in Tampa, crafting the 1979 list of 88 historic structures. Her office occupies the third floor of a 1920s building at 1110 N. Franklin St., now a mix of modern light wood, exposed beams and brick walls. It was ``something only a mother could love'' when she saw it a few years ago, she said.

Ferrell sold the Cohn & Cohn law firm the 10,600 square feet of the former Jackson Furniture building that was viable.

Even with tax incentives that can save thousands of dollars over the years, a $1 million- plus rehabilitation, such as that done at Cohn & Cohn, comes out of an owner's pocket. ``The owner has to figure out the economics,'' she said.

Ferrell had hoped the Union Depot Hotel across from Union Station, a building she co-owned but sold two years ago to an accounting firm, would be renovated into the lofts and office space she envisioned, but the project ``stalled out,'' she said.


`The Time Is Now'

Some property owners are waiting for values to increase, she said. ``But I truly believe the time is now for downtown,'' she said. ``There's no longer a need to wait. You can make money.''

Ferrell and businessman Russ Versaggi, who recently renovated of the 100-year-old Tyer Temple United Methodist Church in Tampa Heights, also would like to see offices, apartments and retail put in the 100-year-old Federal Courthouse the city acquired from the U.S. General Services Administration.

Kite-Powell is hopeful growth doesn't harm Tampa's history. He looks up at the ornate Woolworth building and explains how two groups of high school-age NAACP members sat at this lunch counter to protest segregation on Feb. 29, 1960.

``How can this be lost?'' he asked.

"The group lost a fight to preserve two buildings by architect M. Leo Elliott, who favored an eclectic Mediterranean style in the 1920s. The 13-story First National Bank, 414-416 N. Franklin St., and the arcade and glazed terra cotta Tampa Gas Co., 415 N. Tampa St., gave way to Lykes Gaslight Park in 1995.

I'm all for development, but this made no sense at all. A smaller urban park could have still been developed on the site if those buildings were saved.

At the corner of Franklin and Whiting streets, Kite-Powell pauses in front of a brick warehouse housing architect John Howey and other offices.

``You can see a high-rise anywhere, but an historic building gives this town character,'' he said.

The 1907 two-story building also might crumble because Howey plans a 50-story tower with condominiums and a hotel.

Howey needs to find another site for his 50 story idea. There's parking lots all around that area. Personally I would take a downtown with dense midrise buildings with a vibrant street scene that blends connects with the surrounding neighborhoods over one with a couple of 500ft highrises surrounded by blocks and blocks of surface parking lots.

The real cause of all this was Sandy Freedman's bizarre tax system which penalized you for maintaining old property and waiting to redevelop it.

The other thing is simply in inability to realize that you do not need to be on certain corners to succeed. If your project is good, the flow of people will come to it.

In any event, I have little hope.

I was checking out the Tampa section at skyscrapers.com and found this one called the Hillsborough River Tower. It lists the tower as proposed and with 42 floors at 600 feet. It looks like a great tall addition to Tampa, any chance it could get built? Here's the rendering I found:

http://www.skyscrapers.com/files/transfer/6/2002/07/157047.jpg

The project is still planned, but the developer wants a certain percentage of it leased before construction starts. The problem is there's really no need for large office space, in downtown, right now. However, according to some of the recent local business magazine articles I've read, he still expects to break ground on this project in 2004 with it opening in 2006. So, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Don't beleive anything he says. The project is dead he is just dreaming. He should throw away that silly plan and put 30 story condos on that site. Then he would make money.

If you notice, I did not mention this project at all in my Tampa listing.

nice looking condos!:)

A nice surprise for the Gateway area. There's actually a little "skyline" of midrises forming in Carillon now.



Construction Of Hilton St. Petersburg To Begin In October


By CARLOS MONCADA cmoncada@tampatrib.com
Published: Aug 6, 2003




ST. PETERSBURG - A new Hilton hotel is scheduled to open in fall 2004 in the city's Gateway area, Mayor Rick Baker announced Tuesday.
The nine-story, $25 million Hilton St. Petersburg at Carillon Park will feature 217 guest rooms, including 45 suites, 15,000 square feet of meeting space and an 8,000- square-foot ballroom.

Other amenities include a heated pool and spa, restaurant, lounge and concierge level. The hotel will overlook Carillon's lake and wildlife preserve. Boardwalks running through the preserve will provide walking and exercise paths for hotel guests.

Construction is expected to begin in October and be completed by fall 2004.

``We're very happy to be here,'' said Tony Dzianott, director of operations for Iowa- based Heartland Hotel Corp., which will manage the hotel. ``We wish we could open today because we'd be ready to go.''

At a news conference, Baker said the hotel meeting space will provide a central Pinellas County location for countywide gatherings.

Having additional hotel rooms near Tropicana Field downtown will help the Tampa Bay area attract major sporting events such as another Super Bowl or NCAA Final Four in basketball, said Carole Ketterhagen, director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Plans are for the hotel to cater to the surrounding business community and visitors.


http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/2003/aug/0806hilt.jpg





I will scan the pic and post a bigger one tomorrow when the paper comes out. The odd part is at the end, where it is implied that this hotel will help DT. Huh? The Gateway area has to be at least 7 miles north of DT...:?

I think what they meant to say was that Gateway is the new Downtown of Pinellas county so having a hotel there will help it and Tropicana Field's days are numbered so when they build a new stadium in Gateway, it will help there too.

These guys all spew forth garbage.

Whoops. I didn't notice that she's from the Convention and visitor's bureau. She might as well change her name to Mrs. Bias, A.K.A., I Am Completely Out of Touch With Reality... :D

A local paper FINALLY got around to printing an article about Iorio's waffling on the Arts District Condo deal...

Just as I suspected, she is proposing the absolutely silly idea of building a sprawling 3-4 story "condo" complex. While I like the idea of greatly increasing the number of units to be built (going from about 100 to about 500), I have one very logical concern. Exactly how do numerous 3-4 story buildings scattered about leave plenty of room for a large public gathering space along the river, yet a 25 story condo with a small footprint doesn't? It seems to me that the solution here is quite easy. A much larger condo or a twin towered condo should be built above some retail on the site of the current Poe garage (with the parking then underground), leaving the land between the Poe site and the Tampa Museum of Art open to serve as a large public gathering space.

And as Byrd indicates in the article, 3 story condos simply aren't going to be very salable in that location, because of noise and the lack of views.




Unsigned contract may kill high-rise


Mayor Dick Greco won approval for a residential tower downtown but never signed the contract. Now, his successor has her doubts.
By DAVID KARP, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 7, 2003

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TAMPA - When former Mayor Dick Greco left office in April, he could feel satisfied about finishing one last deal.

With only three work days left in his term, Greco pushed through approval for a 25-story residential tower downtown to anchor the new Tampa Museum of Art. It would be Greco's final achievement, a monument to his development savvy.

But before he cleaned out his office, Greco forgot to tend to one crucial detail. He didn't sign the deal.

Without his signature on the contract, the deal is not a deal, especially since new Mayor Pam Iorio hasn't signed the contract with the Byrd Corp. of Clearwater.

She doesn't plan to either, at least not for now.

Iorio wants to consider building a vastly different residential complex from the one the Byrd Corp. planned.

Iorio said she would like to "first work with the Byrd people." But she might also open her plans to other developers.

Iorio said Byrd's high-rise would consume too much public waterfront and wouldn't create a public space where people assemble, like New York's Central Park.

Iorio wants to create a city center with shops, restaurants, the art museum, a river walk and condos. She favors a park with condos that are three or four stories high. The project might include as many as 500 units, especially if the Poe parking garage is demolished and parking is built underground.

"How do we make this a destination point?" Iorio said.

"We need to be careful how we plan public spaces, because it's forever."

Iorio's decision to put the development on hold could be her first big risk as mayor. She comes into the office without the business background that Greco had. Her decision to rethink the residential towers could invite lawsuits or delay downtown's development.

The housing market might not support her less conventional project, which doesn't offer the views of a 25-story tower.

Developer Bobby Byrd said the mayor hasn't told him yet what she plans. "We are kind of in the dark," Byrd said. "I would love to see what we are talking about."

People consider the view from their downtown home "very important," Byrd said. "You have to understand that no one has proven downtown Tampa as a place to live yet. We are getting there."

Fran Davin, special assistant to the mayor, said Byrd is willing to work with Iorio.

"They are practical business people," Davin said. "They know they don't get to do every project. There is always another project."

Byrd said the company might be willing to change plans, if the mayor's proposal works economically.

"We are very flexible," he said. "When the mayor and the people at the city want to share their plans with us, we are absolutely optimistic about going ahead with doing something with residential downtown development."

Byrd has worked since July to win approval for the 25-story tower on N Ashley Drive, next to the planned $52-million arts museum. He spent thousands on attorneys and planners, and he also gave the city a $100,000 deposit this spring.

"It's real money," he said.

The development deal allowed the Byrd Corp. to buy 1.25 acres of city property on Curtis Hixon Park to build as many as 116 condos by putting down a $100,000 deposit. Byrd would pay the city a maximum of $2-million, but only as the company sold each of the condos.

During her campaign, Iorio's camp had been quietly skeptical of the deal. But she didn't move to block it before she took office.

The City Council approved the agreement on Thursday, March 27, two days after Iorio was elected and three business days before she took the oath of office.

On Friday, Byrd's lawyers sent the contracts to be signed. City lawyers gave the contracts to City Council member Mary Alvarez, and she signed them on April 1, the day Iorio took office.

But the documents never arrived on Greco's desk in time.

Greco did not return a call for comment Wednesday, but former City Attorney James Palermo said Greco had planned to finish the deal. He just never got to it.

"He did not have a change of heart," Palermo said.

Iorio said she understands how it could happen. Papers sometimes take days to get to her desk.

"It seems to happen," she said.

Meanwhile, the contract sits in the city attorney's office with a pointer next to the line where Iorio is supposed to sign.

Her idea is quite ridiculous and I don't think it will fly, as it makes no sense. However, how could Greco overlook this?

My big concern is that this may be her attitude on many things.

I'm interested to see her idea. Right now, I really don't understand how 3-4 story buildings will result in an increase of units and open space over a 25 story tower. I agree with the developer, out of all the good places to build "townhomes" in Tampa, that stretch of Ashley would not be one of them. Maybe they should increase the tower's height a couple of floors to include more units.

I think that they should build a mixed-use tower on the site of the Poe garage, and then just leave the current condo site for parkland. The part of that condo site which fronts Ashley could be used for a small building which houses some restaurants and retail, and then likely a future stop for the trolley which is supposed to run up and down Ashley.

Yes, this should be updated. I just haven't the time right now. Anyone, feel free to move the info from other Tampa threads.

So I was downtown yesterday, and I notices that One Bayshore has two pile drivers (I guess that's the name) on site. Interestingly, they looked like they were on two separate lots - as though the apartment building has also begun construction. This needs to be checked.

As for the apartments on Harbour Island, the crane is at what I would say is full height. I think the building will be a nice addition, as is Stetson's campus.

I decided to dump some of this stuff in here . . .


TAMPA - 30 Story twin condos move forward, and more . . .
There was a rendering in the paper (Tribune), if someone (jasonhouse) could scan it an post it, I would be much obliged.

Clearwater Developer Picked To Build Channel District Condos, `Town Center'
By DAVE SIMANOFF dsimanoff@tampatrib.com
Published: Aug 20, 2003




TAMPA - A development team headed by Clearwater- based Byrd Corp. wants to break ground soon on a pair of 30-story condominiums that also would include a grocery store, shops, restaurants and offices near the Channelside center downtown.
At a meeting Tuesday morning, the Tampa Port Authority's board of directors selected the Byrd team over two other groups to develop a 3 1/2-acre site between Channelside and St. Pete Times Forum along the Garrison Channel. The vote means the authority's staff can begin negotiating to sell part of the property and lease the remainder to the Byrd team.

Byrd Corp.'s partners are Stuart S. Golding Inc. of Clearwater and Giunta Retail Properties Inc. of Tampa.

Brooks Byrd, vice president of Byrd Corp., said he hopes to have a contract hashed out and ready to present to the board before its next meeting, in September. The board was supposed to pick a development team last month but delayed its decision to explore leasing some of the property instead of selling it.

The Byrd team wants to buy 1.8 acres of land from the port authority for $7.6 million and lease the rest for 90 years at $208,000 a year. The company plans to build two 150-unit condominium towers on the purchased property and a 34,000-square-foot Kash n' Karry grocery store with additional retail and office space on the leased property.

Byrd dubbed his project Downtown Channelside, saying it can be ``a town center for the Channel District'' with a place to shop for groceries, take dry cleaning and do other everyday errands.

Downtown Channelside will cost about $92 million to build, not including land costs. Byrd said the retail building, with retail space on the ground floor and office space on the second, may be ready for tenants and customers by the end of 2004. The condo towers would likely open in 2005, he said. Parking spaces would be incorporated into the top levels of the retail building and the bottom floors of the towers.

Byrd said his company is ready for the challenge of building and marketing condos downtown. It built the 64- unit GrandView condominiums on Harbour Island, which are nearly sold out.

The Channel District is ``the next natural step [for development] off Harbour Island,'' he said. ``We're real excited about this. I want to be marketing this project now.''


Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at (813) 259-7762

Tampa's mayor supports the $102-million project as a way to bring more people to live downtown.
By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 20, 2003

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TAMPA - Plans to build twin 30-story condominium towers beside the Channelside entertainment complex won an initial endorsement Tuesday from the public agency that oversees Tampa's port.

Tampa Port Authority commissioners agreed to negotiate a deal with developers of the project, called Downtown Channelside, on 3.5 acres owned by the agency.

Besides 250 condominiums, priced from $300,000 to $500,000, the project would include a commercial complex anchored by an urban Kash n' Karry supermarket. The big-city model features lots of ready-to-eat foods and parking decks over the store.

The $102-million development would be a shot in the arm for efforts to bring more people to live downtown, said Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.

"This strikes me as a quality project," she said. "We want to encourage residential (housing) in Channelside, and we need amenities such as a grocery."

Not everyone was so enthusiastic.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Frank said the developer's offer of nearly $10.3-million - or $66 per square foot - was low for waterfront property in the up-and-coming Channel District.

But offers from developers of Downtown Channelside and a competing apartment project, called Channelside Plaza and Portside Towers, were just $65,000 apart, said port director George Williamson.

"My sense is, if we're looking for a much higher figure, these opportunities won't be with us any more," he said.

The decision between the projects boiled down to whether the Channel District would be better off with condo owners or renters.

Owen Ewing of Paradise Development Group said the 350 apartments his company wanted to build would rent for about $1,500 a month and attract the urban pioneers needed to invigorate a downtown that goes dark after the workday ends.

"These are apartments that will bring young professionals to the downtown core," he said. "I don't believe luxury condos at $500,000 will bring young people. They can't afford it."

But Brooks Byrd of Byrd Corp., a Clearwater developer, said Downtown Channelside's condo owners would give the neighborhood more stability. The commercial phase with the grocery, scheduled to open in spring 2005, would spur other neighborhood development, he said.

"A town center . . . helps stimulate the growth of that district," Byrd said. "It will bring walk traffic and car traffic into Channelside at a time (when) it's not there now."

Downtown Channelside developers plan to build about 175 parking spaces over the Kash n' Karry and will let the Port Authority build more at its own cost. The agency would make money from parking revenues, Byrd said.

The port authority would need to replace 330 spaces on the site, which Channelside uses for parking on busy Friday and Saturday nights, Williamson said, and should build more for future growth at the entertainment complex.

Frank questioned whether developers were low-balling the port authority at $66 per square foot.

The 3.3-acre site of the Tampa Waterside Marriott fetched $74 per square foot in 1999. Local government agencies also paid bigger bucks for the city's Fort Brooke Park ($75) and a site across from the Tampa Convention Center ($193) for a trolley turnaround.

Owners of a former moving company site across from Channelside have offered to sell the land to the port for $63 a square foot, Frank said. "Certainly (the port's) waterfront property has to be worth more than that," she said.

Channel District resident Kim Markham raised another objection - how the condo towers would block views of the water for residents and visitors.

"That spot is the only spot that remains in the Channel District where you still have a view of the channel," she said. "They need to step back from the water."

Port authority officials will now try to hammer out a contract with Downtown Channelside developers to bring back to commissioners.

Tuesday's decision was a change of luck for Byrd Corp. The company had a deal with the city of Tampa to build a 25-story residential tower on part of downtown's Curtis Hixon Park, but former Mayor Dick Greco forgot to sign the contract before leaving office in April. Iorio doesn't plan to sign that deal, saying she wants a different kind of residential project near the Tampa Museum of Art. Iorio voted for Byrd's port project Tuesday.

- Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or 813 226-3384
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/20/images/large/E_1_channels_167009_0820.jpg

And some lofts news:
Loft Living Begins In Channel District
By JANIS D. FROELICH jfroelich@tampatrib.com
Published: Aug 20, 2003




TAMPA - The pungency of fresh roof tar permeates the air, yet Marica McKeel and Bryan Guyton linger, showing off a project even Mayor Pam Iorio thought unlikely a year ago.
Theirs is the first Channel District residential complex to open in the Port of Tampa warehouse community. Although delayed two weeks by recent rains, Channelside 212 Lofts at 203 N. 12th St. is set to become home to its first residents next week.

Two of the 28 units - ranging from 1,100 to 2,500 square feet - remain available. The rest have been sold to urban pioneers, sharing a kinship with McKeel, an intern at RBK Architects, and her financial partner, Guyton.

``I offered no models,'' McKeel said. ``This project was based mostly on my word.''

Within days of the project being announced in February 2002, there was a waiting list. Units sold from $155,000 to $315,000.

``People who put down deposits then hung in there for more than a year,'' said Marie Preston, real estate agent with Preston & Farley. ``We only had one buyer drop out.''

Adama Development, formed by McKeel and Guyton, envisioned transforming the block of run-down warehouses into lofts with trendy touches. Glass-block interior walls, floor-to-ceiling black- framed windows, exposed steel, cedar siding, polished concrete floors and chrome appliances, including double- headed showers, will surround those living within walking distance of downtown.

McKeel first sought city help and money. When neither was forthcoming, ``we decided to go for it,'' she said. ``Something needed to be done to these neglected buildings.''

McKeel's independence is indicative of how the Channel District, a community of fewer than three dozen residents, has approached redevelopment.

Assistance has been promised from city hall, but private developers are presenting multimillion-dollar plans at Channel District neighborhood meetings without much government input.

Raising $3.2 million for the construction of Channelside 212 Lofts wasn't easy, McKeel said.

``It's about time Tampa had downtown housing,'' she said. ``We're supposed to be a big city.''

Guyton previously worked with McKeel to build a gas station. But finding urban loft development less boring, he said it's fascinating to watch other Channel District residential projects pick up as theirs takes off.

``The Channel District is only three blocks wide,'' Guyton said. ``How much can you do down here?''

The answer is: plenty.

Six other projects in various phases will bring 1,500 residences here. Those include: 950 Channelside and 1000 Channelside (formerly Washington Street Crossing), where a warehouse at Washington Street and Channelside Drive will be torn down next week; Synergy Properties' Seaport Town Centre at Channelside; The Meridian; and The Place at Channelside.

Mercury Advisors LLC plans to unveil its plans at 5:30 p.m. today at The Florida Aquarium for the largest project, Grand Central at Kennedy. A colorful, South Beach-type complex, it will have 496 units plus stores and restaurants.

And Victory Lofts had its groundbreaking Tuesday morning.

``This area is succeeding because of location, location, location,'' said Nick Pavonetti of Beck construction company, the builder of Victory's $28 million, 89-unit project.

Pavonetti said 29 units remain in Victory, ranging from $180,000 to $850,000. ``I'm trying to do some development in east Tampa, but it lacks what this area has: little crime and a high-income demographic,'' he said.

Iorio said before the groundbreaking that she admires the Channel District for not depending on government. ``I like the independence they share very much,'' she said. ``They know what they want here and will keep control of their neighborhood.''

Iorio said the Channel District will get upgraded streets, stormwater systems, utilities, infrastructure and signs.

Predicting the Channel District will become ``one of the most sought-after neighborhoods,'' Iorio said she wasn't impressed when she first toured the light industrial area before her election in March.

``My thoughts were, `Who would want to live here?' Now I think, `Who wouldn't want to live here?' '' she said.


Reporter Janis D. Froelich can be reached at (813) 259-7143.
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Housing, retail plan unveiled for downtown
A combo residential and commercial plan is the largest project for the Channel District so far.
By JAN WESNER CHILDS
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 21, 2003

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TAMPA - The largest development to date for the Channel District could include two 14-story buildings with condominiums, offices, a supermarket and a drug store.

"A shopping center with people living above it" is how developer Ken Stoltenberg described it to the about 50 property owners, businessmen, developers, real estate agents and interested citizens gathered at the Florida Aquarium Wednesday night for a first look at the project.

Stoltenberg, who with a partner formed a corporation called Mercury Advisors to develop the site, unveiled architectural drawings for two buildings that would include some 500 condominiums, about 125,000 square feet of retail space, about 70,000 square feet of office space and 1,400 parking spaces. The project is dubbed "Grand Central at Kennedy," and would take up most of a city block at the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and Meridian Avenue.

If built as planned, Stoltenberg thinks it could become a kind of Main Street for Channel District, a warehouse and shipping sector which up until recently had only a few residents. Early redevelopment efforts in the district were geared more toward tourists, with the aquarium and the Channelside shopping and entertainment plaza. The Channelside plaza, across from the aquarium, has struggled to find and keep tenants. Stoltenberg said his project would not face those same challenges because the shops would have a built-in clientele. "It'll be different because I'm going to have close to 1,000 people (living) above it," he said.
A grocery store is at the top of the wish list for many of those who recently bought in or are considering a move to the Channel District. Stoltenberg has high hopes he can get one. He declined to name any prospective tenants or to speculate on when they might sign leases.

First, Stoltenberg has to close on the property, which he expects to do no later than this fall. Second, he'll need a rezoning to build higher than six stories. The project architect, Richard Zingale of Urban Studio Architects, said he envisions two buildings stair-stepping up from six stories at their lowest point to 14 stories at their highest. The first two floors would be commercial and office space, the middle floors would combine residential and parking, and the top floors would be all residential.
Stoltenberg said most of the units would sell for less than $300,000, and range from studios to three bedrooms. Some might be two stories. He hopes to start building by the middle of next year, and finish in 18 months. Zingale said the developers would open a sales center by the end of the year.

Many residents and prospective buyers who were at the meeting Wednesday liked the idea of a mixed-use development.
"I think it's fabulous," Mike Baltes, one of the first buyers of the nearby Channelside 212 Lofts, said. "It will be the first time I can walk to get my groceries."

Baltes paid $185,000 for his loft, and will occupy it in about a month. He's moving from South Tampa.
He's typical of the clientele Stoltenberg hopes to attract to his project - singles or small families, people who work downtown, who can't afford to pay several hundred thousand dollars for a home.

"I envision this as a project for the "regular folks,"' Stoltenberg said.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/8tampa_grand_central_at_kennedy_2.jpg
3rd Major Channel District Project To Add 496 Condos, Grocery


By JANIS D. FROELICH jfroelich@tampatrib.com
Published: Aug 22, 2003




TAMPA - The evolving light industrial arm of downtown Tampa almost had an embarrassment of riches after a developer announced plans for the third mixed-use high- rise anchored by a grocery store.
Ken Stoltenberg's message this week to the Channel District Council was: ``Don't be scared: the more the merrier.''

But the suddenly crowded field has led another of the area's developers to reconfigure his plan.

``Two grocery stores in the Channel District would be plenty - three would be outrageous,'' said Doug Weber, president of Synergy Properties.

Weber planned grocery and drug stores for his Seaport Town Centre at Channelside, on Twiggs Street between Channelside Drive and Meridian Street.

But after learning of two other grocery store-anchored projects, Weber said Thursday that he has changed his plans.

Weber, who hopes to break ground early next year on Seaport Town Centre, said he will add more than the originally proposed 336 lofts, apartments and condos, now that he has erased the grocery store from his blueprints.

``It's really working better for us,'' Weber said. ``We'll have more units to sell and rent.'' Plus, Seaport Town Centre no longer plans to close 12th Street, necessary to accommodate grocery shoppers.

Grand Central at Kennedy, between Kennedy Boulevard and Madison Street, is the largest proposed Channel District project. Its two buildings will feature retail and office space with 496 condominiums.

Its anchor grocery store has not been named. Plans also call for a drugstore, community theater and art gallery.

And then there's Downtown Channelside, to be built next to the Channelside entertainment complex, with 250 condos. Kash n' Karry and an unnamed drugstore are slated to go there.

Of the half dozen residential complexes planned in the Channel District, only one is opposed by residents. Kim Markham, who edits the Channel District newsletter, said Downtown Channelside, twin 30-story towers as high as 300 feet to be built on land offered by the Tampa Port Authority, would block a magnificent view.

Markham also said that although the Channel District wants grocery stores, ``These particular concrete mountains would be placed at a congested dead end as far as traffic goes. It's public land better suited for a waterfront park residents could use.''

Markham said more than 11 developers have conferred with local residents, some amending plans to fit the neighborhood. But Byrd Corp., a Clearwater developer behind Downtown Channelside, did not.

Markham said the best location for a grocery store was Synergy's property. ``This is in the middle of the urban area so you could serve downtown, Harbour Island and Ybor City,'' Markham said.

August 7, 2003
Proposed loft project redesigned to mixed-use
Ken Salgat
Staff Writer
The proposed 30-unit loft project of Washington Street Crossing in the Channel District is being renovated before it's even broken ground.

The property at Channelside Drive and Washington Street has been re-designed by Tampa developers Cruise View LLC to accommodate two new urban work-live mixed-use projects instead of the single residential project of Washington Street Crossing.

Kim Markham, editor of The Channel Newsletter and a member of The Tampa Channel District Council Inc., said the developers simply are responding to market demand.

"The original intent for redevelopment in the Channel District was to have a mixed-use projects," said Markham. "That is what is important to attracting people downtown and keeping them there.

Markham said the developers do not have to apply for rezoning and are not expected to request variances for the property.

Rey Ortega and Dennis Campbell, principals with Cruise View, were contacted regarding the design change, but at press time did not return phone calls.

The first of the two projects will be known as 1000 Channelside.

This development will include 10 residential loft units and five street-level retail and office condominiums, stated a letter from Cruise View to The Tampa Channel District Council. The 2-story loft units each will have private rooftop terraces and 22-foot ceilings. Each unit will face the water and have views of cruise ships as they arrive and depart at the Port of Tampa's new terminals, the letter stated. Construction of this project will start in the fall 2003 and be ready for occupancy summer of 2004.

The second project will be known as 950 Channelside and will be a mirror image in design with 14 residential lofts and seven commercial units.

Construction on 950 Channelside could start as early as spring 2004 and be ready for occupancy in early 2005, however a price increase of 7 percent to 10 percent should be expected for this project, the letter stated
http://www.tampachanneldistrict.org/Events/Campbe1.jpg

Just a few great pics I found - about a year of two old
http://www.florida-photo-magazine.net/apr/images/AAPR0007.jpg

http://www.florida-photo-magazine.net/apr/images/AAPR0009.jpg

We never show the river

http://www.florida-photo-magazine.net/apr/images/ATPA0009.jpg

Here's the Rundown on Channelside (it should be noted that the lady [Kim Markham] who made this list is opposing the 30 story condos, but I think she will fail.) - could ti be she does not want competition - see second to last project)
Channel District Residential Development - Planned as of September 2003


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEVELOPMENT NAME LOCATION
UNITS DESCRIPTION CONTACT/PHONE /
EMAIL/ WEBSITE/

Channelside 212 Lofts North 12th. St 28
Loft Townhomes
Designed by
Marica McKeel Marie Preston
813-254-3111
www.channelsidelofts.com

Victory Lofts 12th St-Whiting
89 Loft_Condominiums w/secured Parking Garage Nick-Pavonetti,Beck_Group
nickpavonetti@beckgroup.com
or Casey Ellison 813-927-5220
www.victorylofts.com

The Meridian
N. 12th St-Whiting 35 Deco Moderne Lofts Designed by Steve Smith Mark Newkirk NewkirkMark@yahoo.com or Truett_Gardner
TruettGardner@yahoo.com
www.meridianlofts.com

Zink
Meridian/Washington 22 Lofts Condominiums Tim Zink
TimZ@gte.net

1000_Channelside &
950 Channelside
Channelside/Washington 36 Loft Condominiums w/street level retail Dennis Campbell Managing_Partner Channelside_Partners_L.C.
727-424-4487
dcampbe5@tampabay.rr.com

The Place at Channelside
Channelside-12thStreet 220 Luxury_Condominiums &_Street-Level_Retail &_Art_Galleries_designed by Stephanie December Gaines Fida Sirdar,
727-492-7676
FSirdar@keydevelopers.com

Seaport Town Center
Twiggs-Meridian-12thSt 336 Rental Apartments Michael_DeMarcay
813-221-3344
mdemarcay@synergyproperties.com

Grand Central at Kennedy
Kennedy Meridian
Madison 496 Affordable lofts and multi-story retail/commercial, grocery_store,restaurants, community_theater_art gallery_designed_by Richard_Zingale_and Mickey_Jacob Ken_Stoltenberg 813-864-4200
KS@mercury-advisors.com

Private Residences
210 N. 12th Street 7 Seven luxury lofts designed_by_Ken_Garcia and Will Weir Donald Ebbert
Donald@firfin.com

12th Street Townhomes
209_South_12th._Street 26 Fee_SimpleHomes Richard Markham
RMarkham@pol.net

Condominiums Channelside at Kennedy
90 Affordable_to_luxury condominiums_in_two towers_and_12000_sf commercial/retail designed by Walt Chancey Bill Ware
813-224-9624
warereal@aol.com

Supprot the condos in Channelside - contact the Port Authority board (from the opponents website [of course])
The Tampa Port Authority Board Members are:

Chairman Joseph F. Diaz, DDS, 705 Del Webb Boulevard West, Sun City
Center, FL 33573 Phone (813)633-1431

Mayor Pam Iorio, 306 E. Jackson St, Tpa, Fl 33602-5223, phone (813)
274-8251, email pam.iorio@tampagov.net

Commissioner Pat Frank, Board of County Commissioners, PO Box 1110, Tampa,
Fl 33601, phone (813) 272-5660

Commissioner Gladstone "Tony" Cooper, Jr., Searchwell Thorne & Assoc., PO
Box 16332, St. Petersburg, Fl 33731 Phone (727) 821-4607

Commissioner Lance Ringhaver, PO Box 30169, Tampa, Fl 33630, phone (813)
671-3898, email lance.ringhaver@ringhaver.com

Hey, I need a little help. I can log on to SSP (it took about a month to get teh passowrd worked out), but then it won't let me do anything - I can't post or email in the system or anything. JAsonhouse, assistance please.

I have already sent my letters of support to the Mayor. I too got the E-mail addresses from the channel districts newsletter. The mayor already sent a response back .


Here it is:
Thanks for your e-mail. I believe the Bryd project will be of quality
and add a great deal to Channelside. With new development people are
bound to have various viewpoints and I respect them all. I appreciate
your input.
Pam

Sounds like she is supporting the development

Bitch blew me off.

You should be good to go at SSp Smiley.


Iorio isn't a bitch IMO. She seems to be doing a good job thus far of balancing things out, though she showed some real weakness to do what "is right by the residents" in terms of making sure the city has the money needed to take care fo things. Her own requests to raise fees for sewage, DT parking rates and parking tickets have all been watered down significantly. In fact, so much so that additional funding will now have to culled from other sources that won't have the same "userfee" effect that these very sensible increases she proposed would have had. If she's really going to continue to make Tampa a better city to live in, then she's going to have to grow some balls and learn how to stand up to the knee-jerk reactionaries which plague Tampa. These people know NOTHING about how to run a city or make a community a sustainable, enjoyable place to live, so why do they wield so much influence over policy?

Originally posted by smiley
I think what they meant to say was that Gateway is the new Downtown of Pinellas county so having a hotel there will help it and Tropicana Field's days are numbered so when they build a new stadium in Gateway, it will help there too.

These guys all spew forth garbage.

You might be joking here, but I wouldn't be suprised if a new stadium is built somewhere else in the next 10 years and the stadium site is redeveloped into a huge, new urban development.

Just speculating ;)

I honestly feel that if the Rays are going to stay in this area longterm, that they will DEMAND a new stadium in about 7-12 years and that they will DEMAND that it be in Mid-Pinellas, or possibily even in Hillsborough County somewhere.

DT St Pete is a very nice DT, but it is a BAD location for a regional draw like a stadium. it is simply too far removed from the majority of the local population, especially the young, monied sports fans that live on the burbs of Tampa.

Tampa looks so nice in those pics. :)

FYi Jasonhouse, a rendering of a little Channelside project in the Trib Real Estate section on Sun. Very weird, but might be nice to post.

Well, good Kim Markham is lonsing her first battle. Hopefully just the first in a long line of losses. . .

12-12-03
EXCLUSIVE REPORTS
Height allowed, but Place at Channelside delayed
The idea: Development plans call for 254 units plus retail space
Ken Salgat
Staff Writer
TAMPA -- A $60-million, mixed-use loft project will not break ground in January as previously planned.

The Place at Channelside -- destined for 2.15 acres enclosed by Channelside Drive, 12th Street, Whiting Street and Washington Street -- has joined the ranks of other residential projects planned for the Channel District.

And the planning continues. Now the developer says the first shovel of dirt for The Place at Channelside may be turned late in the first quarter of 2004.

Plans for The Place at Channelside call for a bottom level of retail and parking along Channelside Drive and 12th Street, a second story of parking and residential, and a stepped design of 3 stories residential rising to a total of 5 stories.

Developer Fida Sirdar plans to build 254 units in the residential portion, along with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space on the bottom level.

Sirdar, president of Key Developers Group LLC in Tampa, had the property rezoned Sept. 25 to allow for buildings taller than 60 feet.

Sirdar believes the planned "pedestrian" signature of the project will help define the character of the Channelside area.

Similar residential projects in the vicinity with similar height deviations have received favorable recommendations from the city council to exceed the 60-foot mark, Sirdar said.

Those projects, The Towers of Channelside and one proposed on Tampa Port Authority property, include buildings that exceed 300 feet and are well along in the approval process.

In July, no price points were set for The Place at Channelside. However, Sirdar said the one-, two- and three-bedroom units will be priced from $154,000 to $450,000. The units will range from 650 to 2,100 square feet.

Unlike other projects, Sirdar's plans met with guarded approval by the Channel District Council, whose members raised questions regarding the pedestrian atmosphere, the value to the area and the impact of increased traffic on Channelside Drive. The council is a neighborhood organization aimed at promoting redevelopment in the area.

Although the rezoning has met approval, the development company has yet to request or receive building or construction permits. Sirdar said that process would, of course, precede groundbreaking.

"That will be done sometime in the early spring," he said.

To reach Ken Salgat, call (813) 342-2477 or send your e-mail to ksalgat@bizjournals.com.

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2003/12/15/story3.html

That's awesome! That means that one way or another, that 4 300 footers will be built in Channelside in the next few years.

With One Bayshore, the new hotel, the other Harbour Island condo project (20 stories) and then these Channelside towers, the skyline will really grow to the south.

I don't know if it mean they WILL get built for sure, but they are moving forward, which is cool. Yes, a southern belt of 17, 25, 27, 22, 21, 20, 30, 30, 30, 30 and maybe more would be nice. All you need then is to tie the two sub clusters together.

The Trib had a blurb on one of the two big condo developers buying some land from the port - though I think it was the Towers project, not the main port based one. In any event, slowly we move forward. . . .

???

The only blurb I saw was about Trammell Crow beginning it's Port Ybor project soon.

IT was there, but I don't hve the paper now, so I can't copy it down.

On another note - I drove by Victory Lofts today and the new building is coming out of the ground, so whatever that article about a month ago was talking about - it's moving forward. I am still wondering about the renovations on the old building, which do not appear to have started.

It was on the left side - which often do not get to the webpage.

Oh.

Sorry I never scanned the Channelside rendering, but I never got the paper Sunday.

How big was the project that was featured?

Not big - two stories, some condos - but very odd looking.

I noticed today that they have begun demolition work at the former Jim Walter site at I-275 and Dale Mabry Highway. I wonder what the plan for that site has evolved into now?

A small thing, but encouraging for the attitude. YEars ago, this would have been controvertial and taken a long time to get going. Now it just sells itself. Thank God.

Casa Pepe Answering Swing To Urban Living
By JOSH POLTILOVE jpoltilove@tampatrib.com
Published: Dec 20, 2003




SOUTH TAMPA - Cafe Pepe is soon to be Casa Pepe.
Cafe Pepe had a long history at 2006 W. Kennedy Blvd. The Spanish restaurant operated for 42 years before closing in December 2002.

In about 10 months, though, the longtime Tampa restaurant will be replaced by a two-story office building and 12 town houses, to be known as Casa Pepe Townhomes.

``I definitely wanted to keep the Pepe in there ... just for historical reasons,'' said John Lum, co-owner of LIST Realty.

Each two-story town house will be about 1,800 square feet and have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a single-car garage. The homes will be about a block from Kennedy Boulevard. Lum said 10 of 12 already have been sold.

``I guess this is just proof that there's a big demand for urban living in this city,'' Lum said. ``And we're going to keep on giving them product.''

Construction on the homes will begin in about two weeks, Lum said.

The 14,000-square-foot office building, meanwhile, will be known as 2000 Grand Central - referring to one of Kennedy Boulevard's former names. LIST Realty will move there and occupy 4,000 to 5,000 square feet.

Lum said the new building will have about 50 parking spaces and also will be occupied by other businesses, including a mortgage company. He also plans to add a restaurant on the building's ground floor, with sidewalk dining.

Tampa City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena said the project was ``marvelous.'' She wants more offices built on Kennedy with multifamily properties behind them.

``I think that the quality of what's being built now is changing the character of Kennedy, she said.


Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 835-2105.
http://tampatrib.com/News/MGASD15WEOD.html

Originally posted by Jasonhouse

I noticed today that they have begun demolition work at the former Jim Walter site at I-275 and Dale Mabry Highway. I wonder what the plan for that site has evolved into now?
I have read that "retail space" is going in there. That is all it said . Not very specific.
Unfortunately, to me, that sounds like another shopping center

Right. Initially, it was a big retail center, with nearly 500k sq ft arranged vertically in a four story "power center" in the rear of the site. The structure could be thought of as 4 big box retailers stacked atop one another. This was to be fronted by a 7 story parking structure, which was arranged so that all four retailers would have walk-in service from the garage. Finally, several restaurants and shops would be housed in a separate structure adjacent to the garage towards Dale Mabry, with still yet a couple more restaurants housed in outparcels fronting right on Dale Mabry.

The most recent plan I saw was basically the same thing, only scaled down to a 2-3 story retail structure, a 5 story garage and a few outparcels for restaurants.

I am quite certain that Home Depot has shelved/scrapped plans for a Home Expo Center here in Tampa (got somewhat reliable inside info). This was expected to anchor the site, and then lure other home retailers, like a furniture gallery and a Bed Bath and Beyond type of place. With that plan out the window, the developer is reportedly looking at retailers looking for a presence in the Westshore/S Tampa area, like Lowes, Target, Costco, etc.



Personally, I think that the site would be well suited for an office and big box retail mix. Transportation access is very good at the site and so are the cummuter demographics. The key is to increase the density as much as possible to increase the economy of scale and thus improve the developer's return on significant what is/was aquisition and demolition costs.

As long as it is multistory and not just a flat building with a huge parking lot, I don't really care what it is. They can build a five story new Mons Venus for all I care.

Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea.

You know, it has always puzzled me that Redner has never built a newer, bigger Mons. Clearly the business could/would support a place that 2x bigger, with that many more patrons, making him that much more money. I don't care either way, but it is odd IMO.

Well, there is actually a good reason - if he expands, he will need approvals from the city council, which will place regulation on the business. Thus, he cannot expand without being put out of business.

Gotta be more to it than that. Buckhorn's gone, and his business is 100% legal.

Jasonhouse, get a Trib for today (Mon Dec 22) and get to teh scanner. That is The Place at Channelside most likely, even though they don't labe it. also that map would be useful for showing people what is going on here.

I just sent this email to the city council. I URGE YOU ALL TO EMAIL THEM TO COUNTER THESE ANNOYING CHANNELSIDE PEOPLE - you can go to the channelside district council and read all there silly letter - Feel free to take whatever part of it you want (you can email them from this webpage http://www.tampagov.net/dept_City_Council/ (http://) ):

I am writing to express my concern as a longtime Tampa resident about developments in the Channelside district of Tampa. Unlike a number of letters from the small but vocal Channelside Council, I am writing to support extensive development in Channelside. The Channelside Council reprents such a small number of people that, once one or two of the developments presently underway is completed, the Council will be a minoroty group. I do not beleive this small group should be allowed to dictate to the city how to use one of its most valuable resources - a relatively undeveloped, large area in the heart of the city which has cleraly demostrated appeal to the population at large. To restict the buildings to the small scale the Council desires would be to 1) waste prime urban land, 2) deprive the city of much needed tax revenue from relatively upscale, dense development, 3) limit the development of downtown artificially, and 4) ignore what is clearly the will of more people than are represented by the Council - that is - to live in a real urban area (not a sham "artists colony") in the heart of the city. The key to downtown is Channelside - that is where the reseidential component will developer. The key to developing downtown is having residents. Whether Tampa will be a 24 hour city or not will be deceided in the next few years based on your decisions about Channelside. If you restict its growth, against the market and logic, you will chioke off growth in downtown, limit the tax pool, and doom Tampa to small town status (ask yourself why every company of any size that is founded in Tampa either moves to Atlanta or is bought by a company from Atlanta). If you choose wisely and allow the area to develop organically (which is not to say that you abandon requirements for street retail and decent architecture - those things are certainly required), you will help propel Tampa to a stature this area deserves. The decision is yours to make.

In closing, I wish to point out that I am not affilaited with any development team proposing or cosntructing a building in Channelside. I am simply a resident who is concerned about my city and who votes.

Duo To Renovate Channel District Warehouse
By JANIS D. FROELICH jfroelich@tampatrib.com
Published: Dec 23, 2003




TAMPA - Lawyer Cody Fowler Davis grew up in Boston, and his client of two decades, Harbour Island developer Finn Caspersen, is from Washington, D.C.
So what the two mused about for years was finding an old brick building in Tampa reminiscent of their native cities and renovating it.

That dream materialized Monday when Davis, of Davis & Harmon law firm, and Caspersen paid $990,000 cash for the 1924 Ortmeyer Thompson Co. furniture warehouse in the Channel District.

The former owner was Hunt James, son of Raymond James Financial Chairman Thomas James. He planned to use the building for his Digital Hands, a computer company, but instead relocated to vacant space in downtown Tampa, Davis said.

'`We'll do everything to save the building,'' said Davis, who plans to move his downtown law firm to the top floor of the two-story structure.

``The first engineering report done for Hunt came back fine, but ours wasn't as good,'' he said. ``But if there's any way we can fix this up, we will.''

Architect Stephen Smith, whose firm Cooper Johnson Smith Architects designed the Meridian, a proposed nearby loft complex, has been hired for the renovation.

Smith said the exposed timber and brick walls will be complemented by wood floors. ``We're hopeful of finding old photographs of the building because there used to be an awning and we'd like to re-create that,'' he said.

The 24,300-square-foot building is at 110 N. 11th St., a 1.5-acre property of four lots. Davis plans to lease first-floor space to artists and small businesses.

Davis believes the Channel District, a former warehouse area servicing the Port of Tampa, will make a successful transition. He is confident the 11 residential projects planned in the district will eventually go through because of the convenient location.

``When I first looked at the property, I thought the price was a little high,'' he said. ``But with all these announced developments recently, our cost of about $40 a square foot seems pretty good.''

Both the background of Davis, brother of U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, and Caspersen demonstrate past innovative strokes in developing.

Caspersen, chief executive of Knickerbocker Management Corp., was a driving force in assembling the land where the St. Pete Times Forum is situated. He also was CEO of Beneficial Corp. when it acquired and developed Harbour Island.


Reporter Janis D. Froelich can be reached at (813) 259-7143.
http://www.tampatrib.com/Business/MGAUBT8FJOD.html

Thats good news. Personally, I thought the furniture warehouse was overpriced, when I found about the price a couple of years ago. however, even though its bricked in on the first floor right now, it does look to be in very good shape. Its restoration will be an asset to the Channel District. BTW, does anyone know if the city is planning to do a streetscape in the area or at least add sidewalks along the streets?

Folks...I've noticed many of you have a deep interest in the success and vitality of Tampa.

A new organization is being formed by the Chamber and other organizations for young professionals. The group is called..."Emerge Tampa". I'm still learning more about this group, but will be joining as will my roommate and girlfriend.

If you are interested, please contact the Tampa Chamber to be placed in their database of interested individuals. Like I said, I'm not sure who will be joining or what to expect, but many of you seek the same type of urban presence I'm trying to encourage in the bay area. We need all the help we can get!

Here is a lovely article from the St. Pete times. I just hope to god people like her don't multiply, her article makes no sense what so ever :wtf:

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/12/27/Columns/Let_New_York_hug_the_.shtml

What little respect I had left for the st.pete times was just thrown out the window.

I just read the article, and too a certain point I agree with her, when it comes to all the surface parking lots on the streets. However, those aren't from tall buildings, those are from bad city planning. In the end, if she doesn't like to live in tall buildings, then don't, but don't try to limit the living options of others.

She complains about the surface lots and attributes it to the need of a car in the area. (I think we all can agree on hating surface parking) Then she rejects the idea of high rise living in the downtown area, which could lead to a more pedestrian way of living in the downtown area. The way she words the article it sounds like she doesn't even agree that there should be tall office towers DT. We need high rise building as a city just as much as mid rise building and individual houses, a variety for everyone is needed. Anyway, I'm not gonna dwell on an article written by a NIMBY.

It will be interesting to see if this rubber trolley route gets decent ridership. I hope so, as mass transit successes will lead to more of the same.


Hooters hits Channelside, trolley in tow

Hooters Management Corp. announced that it will open the 11th Bay area Hooters at Channelside in Tampa on Jan. 5.


To encourage business from the downtown area, Hooters Channelside Express, a Hartline Trolley, will stop at five downtown locations and travel back and forth between the Channelside Hooters and the downtown area every 10 minutes from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This free trolley will run every weekday, the company said.

"One of the problems with getting people in the downtown area to get out for lunch is the practicality factor," Neil Kiefer, president of Hooters Management, said in a media release. "We wanted to make it convenient for them to come enjoy Hooters' world-famous wings and the Hooters Girls without having to worry about finding a parking spot or moving their cars. The Hartline Trolley was the answer."


____________________________________________________



BTW, I have seen some pretty crowded trolleys rolling past me more frequently recently. I get the impression that people are catching on. I imagine that ridership will do nothing but increase in the coming years, especially if they expand it up through the DT core, and hopefully over across the river... If they could somehow speed these things up, ridership would really increase.

Victory lofts are coming along. Pilings out of the ground and a descent size crane on site.
Has anyone seen the renderings for 212 N. 12th st.? I think they are freakin horrible!

I beleive 212 12st is done, though maybee I am confusing it with something else. Across the street from it will be CCX - the weird, quzi modern thingy that is going to look really odd in Channelside, but I guess sometime that will be ok, as long as it is not too big.

Site preparation spells doom for old Walter headquarters
The two-story "stacked" shopping complex is expected to feature a Target store and health food and home decor outlets.
By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer
Published January 1, 2004




[Times photo: John Pendygraft]
Site preparation for a retail center is under way on the grounds of the old Walter Industries headquarters at Interstate 275 and N Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. There's no word on when the distinctive 1957 building will come down.

TAMPA - Nearly three years after developer Ken Morin filed plans for a retail center along one of the bay area's busiest commercial strips, excavators and front-end loaders are moving the first dirt on the site.
Morin Development Group completed its purchase of the former Walter Industries headquarters property at Interstate 275 and N Dale Mabry Highway last month.
Morin declined to say Wednesday when crews will demolish the twin eight-story towers and the bridge connecting them at the top, a local landmark since 1957. Morin also would not discuss which stores have signed leases for the complex called Walter's Crossing.
But plans filed with the city show a two-story building on the 13-acre site with a Target discount store over three specialty retailers, connected to a four-level parking deck. It's an emerging urban design called "stacked" retail that would be new to the bay area.
The other retailers include two chains new to the area: Wild Oats, a natural and organic foods grocer, and World Market, which sells home decor products, furniture, food and wine.
Plans also show three single-story retail buildings, one identified as a Rooms To Go furniture outlet, and an unnamed restaurant.
Walter has moved its headquarters about a mile away to Corporate Center Two near the International Plaza shopping center.
Morin originally planned a four-story retail building on the site with a different tenant on each floor, two other retail buildings and two restaurants. He had hoped to close on the property at the end of 2001.
But the project began as the national economy lurched into low gear and many retailers were putting expansion plans on hold. Morin also faced challenges squeezing the center onto a relatively small, narrow site beside two of Tampa's busiest highways.
Some potential tenants of the stacked retail building worried that drivers wouldn't be able to see their stores, located at the back of the site behind the parking deck, said Jim Roberts, a real estate broker with Colliers Arnold who represents national retail chains. But Morin has an irresistible site, Roberts said. Much of the bay area's highest-rent office space is within a 15-minute drive, he said, including the neighboring Westshore business district.
"That location is like a hub for all the places that send employees over (to Tampa)," Roberts said. "It's very accessible, very visible."
The new Target would be the discounter's sixth store in Hillsborough County, filling a hole between locations on Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa and in Town 'N Country.
One of the new retailers, Wild Oats, was launched in 1987 with the purchase of a vegetarian food store in Boulder, Colo. It has grown into a publicly traded company with 101 stores in 25 states and Canada. Stores have a deli, juice and java bar, bakery and departments for bulk foods, produce, seafood and meat.
Cost-Plus Inc., which operates stores under the names World Market and Cost-Plus World Market, has 204 stores in 26 states. It sells housewares, casual furnishings, decorative accessories, and food and beverages imported from more than 50 countries. "They're a Pier One on steroids," Roberts said.
Also on the site plan was a Linens 'n Things store. The retailer of home textiles, housewares and home decorative home accessories operates more than 400 stores in 45 states and Canada. It has area locations in Tampa, Brandon and Clearwater.
- Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or 813226-3384.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/01/Business/Site_preparation_spel.shtml

Originally posted by smiley

I beleive 212 12st is done, though maybee I am confusing it with something else. Across the street from it will be CCX - the weird, quzi modern thingy that is going to look really odd in Channelside, but I guess sometime that will be ok, as long as it is not too big.

Your Right Smiley. My bad. I am thinking of the ones proposed for right across the street from 212 lofts. They tore down a building there about a month ago. They are planning to put up a really rounded looking loft development. It looks like two stories, but I think they said it was four.
I am looking all over trying to get a pic of it.

these are the ones I am talking about


http://us.f1f.yahoofs.com/bc/1099eda0/bc/My+Documents/2034591_101.jpg?bfnKH9_AmddPQFoh

Tony, wherever you are getting those pics from, it doesn't allow hotlinking.




In reference to that development at the Jim Walter site, I think that the Wild Oats store is going to flounder there. There is very little in the way of "upscale" residential anywhere nearby, except to the south. And folks in south Tampa don't like going north of Kennedy unless they REALLY have to. Such a store would do much, much better in one of the redeveloped shopping centers around Dale Mabry and Neptune, or over in the mostly vacant shopping center at Kennedy and Westshore (where Kash n Karry used to be). As it is now, a discount big box retailer (Target) IS NOT going to draw enough heeled shoppers to go the stores they're building.


What they REALLY should have done was just redeveloped that entire block, all the way up to Boyscout. The Toys R Us, Rooms To Go and Home Depot are all rundown hellholes anyways.

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/02/images/TP_176381_HO_towers02_1.JPG
An artist's rendering shows the proposed health club and retail space at the Towers of Channelside and part of a 30-story tower.

Towers viewed as blessing, curse
A condo plan offers the Channel District an infusion of life, but critics fear being squeezed out.
By BABITA PERSAUD, Times Staff Writer
Published January 2, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Courtesy of Towers of Channelside LLC]
An artist's rendering shows the proposed health club and retail space at the Towers of Channelside and part of a 30-story tower.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


CHANNEL DISTRICT - For years, residents in the Channel District welcomed developers with open arms, peppering them with statistics about anticipated growth and raving about the area's potential.

"We hold their hands," said Kim Markham, a Channel District pioneer.

That is, until now.

A plan to build a high-rise condominium complex has them worried their neighborhood will become overrun with traffic and lose its artsy, industrial feel. They want short over tall.

Real estate developers Rich Sacchi, Mike McGuinness and Brad Hite have proposed building two, 30-story residential towers joined by a Las Vegas-style swimming pool, with retail space and a health club on the ground level.

Called the Towers of Channelside, it would have 260 units, adding significantly to downtown's lagging residential base.

"We think this location's got everything a resident would want," McGuinness said.

Several residents in the Channel District argue the project would dwarf the existing low-rise warehouse buildings and outprice most artists and others looking for affordable, urban living.

The Channel District Council, a group of residents and businesses representing the area, has opted not to support it, board member Doug Johnson said.

The two sides will present their case Thursday before the City Council. To proceed with the project, developers need a variance to build up to 310 feet and to take a section of Meridian Street.

Residents plan to come out in force. They may wear T-shirts that play off a Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers theme: artists as the hobbits and the developers as ogres.


* * *

In 1996, early pioneers of the Channel District developed a neighborhood plan that called for medium-scale, mixed-use development that promoted urban street life and catered to pedestrians.

The City Council approved the Channel District Design Guidelines, sparking the former industrial area's rebirth.

Today, some 60 artists live or work in the area, mostly in converted warehouses or old businesses. Developers have taken note, and about a dozen residential projects are in various stages of evolution.

To appease residents, some developers have altered plans. A Toronto developer, for example, wanted to build a Miami-style high-rise but, after listening to neighbors, reduced the height.

Then came Sacchi, McGuinness and Hite. All friends. All longtime South Tampa residents.

Sacchi, originally from Rochester, N.Y., came to Tampa to attend the University of South Florida. He's been here 18 years. McGuinness is a fixture on the South Tampa social scene. He is into fitness and dates a Tampa Bay Storm cheerleader.

Together with Hite, they formed The Towers of Channelside LLC, which has its office in Plant City.

Originally, they planned to build on Bayshore Boulevard. Precisely where, they won't say.

Then they researched port developments in other cities, such as Baltimore, discovering that every city has a center of gravity.

In Tampa, they say it's the Channel District, where the streetcar stops, the cruise ships come in and people go for entertainment. And if trade opens up with Cuba, even more port activity.

Their hopes hinge on 2.8-acres near 415 S 12th St., owned by Fogarty Van Lines. Bound by Cumberland Avenue, Meridian and 12th Street, it's across the street from the Channelside entertainment complex and next to the Tampa Port Authority's parking garage.

The developers envision two 30-story towers with one- to three-bedroom units priced at $275,000 to $325,000.

It would have a $1.6-million pool with a 60-foot waterfall in the "valley" of the two towers.

If the council approves the project, they hope to start construction by the end of the year or beginning of 2005.


* * *

Complicating matters is the location. Part of the property is in the Central Business District, which has no height restrictions. The other is not, limiting the height to 60 feet.

At next week's council meeting, the developers will ask to designate the entire site as CD-3, which has unlimited height. They will also ask for a piece of Meridian Street.

"This is an old piece of Meridian, never to be used again," Sacchi said.

Developers and residents have met several times to go over the project and several changes were made.

The developers originally wanted two towers surrounded by a gate and no retail space. But after meeting with residents, they incorporated $20-million worth of changes, including more sidewalks, landscaping and an awning for artists to display their wares. They also added space for a 20,000-square-foot health club, which would be open to the public, and 15,000 square feet for shops and businesses on the street level.

Sacchi and McGuinness say they have the support of 1,000 residents and business owners, including the Florida Aquarium.

"We are all about creating mass in Channelside," said Greg Harris, executive vice president of the Florida Aquarium. "And mass means cruise ship, it is retail, it is residential. Anything that would help Channelside."

As far as the height issue, he said, the aquarium couldn't comment.

"We're not architects," he said. "We are not community planners. We like the fact there are residential projects being built down here."


* * *

Markham and other Channel District residents say the developers want to turn Channel District into another Harbour Island.

"As McDonald's is followed by Burger King and Wendy's, so high-rise buildings are now breeding at the northern edge of Harbour Island," Markham said.

Residents say the towers will drive up prices, making the area unaffordable to artists. They don't want what happened in Ybor City to happen in Channel District.

"For us, this is a crucial juncture," said Markham, who also opposes Byrd Corp.'s plan for a high-rise project with a grocery store across the street.

Even with the council's approval of the Towers, Sacchi and McGuinness must presell 50 to 60 percent of the units to get backing from the bank. If they don't, the project won't get built, McGuinness said.

"Let the public decide."

- Babita Persaud can be reached at 226-3322 or persaud@sptimes.com

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/02/Citytimes/Towers_viewed_as_bles.shtml

My thoughts about some things said in the article:

I think the prices in the Channel District are already to high for regular artist. Furthermore, that area of the district (Ice Palace, Channelside, parking garage & Aquarium) has also already lost its historic industrial character, so I don't see anything, negative that this project will bring to the area. I also like the idea of adding the public health club at street level.

Tampa Tribune - 1/2/04

http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/2003/dec/1231rck2.jpg
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, which is partly open but remains under construction, is expected to be a boon to the tribe and Tampa. The facility will employ 2,500 people with a payroll of about $40 million.



TAMPA - The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino that's scheduled to open this spring just outside Tampa promises to deliver more than just rock 'n' roll and souvenir shot glasses to the Tampa Bay area.
The complex, partly open but still taking shape on land owned by the Seminole tribe, will bring more jobs and tourists to the Bay area, and more money to the tribe and its members, general manager Jon Fontana said.

``We're going to pump tens of millions of dollars into the local economy,'' Fontana said.

On Saturday, operators of the complex will host a job fair to start filling some of the more than 2,000 jobs that will be created.

The Hard Rock project at Orient Road and Interstate 4 was built in two phases so the Seminole Casino, opened since the early 1980s, didn't have to shut down entirely during construction. The first part of the casino complex opened in June, with 40,000 square feet of new gaming space and a new restaurant, Floyd's. Once the casino had moved in its new home, the old bingo hall and casino building was torn down to make space for the second phase of construction, the one that's now under way, with 50,000 square feet of additional space, meeting rooms, new restaurants, a day spa and a 250-room hotel.

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will host its grand opening sometime in early March, although a firm date hasn't been set.

The casino will keep its old name, Seminole Casino, until the grand opening, although the Hard Rock flourishes are impossible for guests to miss: quotes from rockers in the elevators, door handles shaped like guitars, and a huge neon Hard Rock logo atop the hotel.

Fontana said visitors should expect a ``world-class, four-star'' facility when the Hard Rock complex opens.

``This is the real deal,'' he said. ``You can take these facilities and put them on the Vegas strip.''

One thing that visitors won't see at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is a Hard Rock Cafe. Fontana said there wasn't room on the 40-acre site for another restaurant, but one might be added.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is owned and operated by the Seminole tribe. It licenses the Hard Rock name from Hard Rock Cafe International, based in Orlando. The developer is Power Plant Entertainment, a subsidiary of Baltimore-based development giant Cordish Co.


The Impact

Fontana said the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino should prove a boon for the economy for a number of reasons:

* Employment: The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will employ 2,500 people with a combined annual payroll of about $40 million. The old Seminole Casino, in comparison, had 450 employees, he said.

* Attendance: The hotel and casino expects between 15,000 and 20,000 visitors a day, up from 8,000 visitors for the old casino.

* Tribal revenue: The Seminole tribe expects to earn much more money from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino than it did from the old casino, which means more funding for the tribe's educational and health care programs, as well as other efforts, Fontana said. It probably also means more money for the tribe to distribute to its members, which is money that will probably be spent in Florida, he said. Tribe members get about $40,000 a year through revenue-sharing programs. The tribal council could vote to increase the payments once it sees how much revenue the hotel brings in, he said.

Steve Hayes, executive vice president of the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau, said it's hard to predict what the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino means for tourism and the local economy.

``We're really not sure how it will impact Tampa,'' Hayes said. ``This is a product that we've really not had in this destination before. The place looks like it's going to be outstanding, but we won't really know until the doors are open.''

Competition for tourist dollars will come from Hollywood, near Fort Lauderdale, where an even bigger Hard Rock resort is rising on land also owned by the Seminole tribe. The Hollywood complex features a 6,000-square-foot indoor amphitheater, larger hotel, a 300,000-square-foot shopping center, and a Hard Rock Cafe.

Fontana said the Tampa Hard Rock Hotel & Casino should hold its own against the competition, welcoming back regular casino guests while reaching out to new customers in the Bay area through the Hard Rock brand and other amenities.

``There's more than just the gaming,'' he said.

The tribe isn't obligated to pay tourism-related taxes on its property. Representatives from the tribe are talking about making some kind of contribution to local tourism and marketing efforts, Fontana and Hayes said.

``The tribe has always attempted to be a good community member,'' Fontana said.

Hayes said discussions are ongoing, but nothing has been settled yet.

How can Hard Rock invest that much money into a project and not include a Hard Rock Cafe:? I don't get it.

This is a river elevation file showing a concept plan of the property Bank of America plans to develop in Tampa Heights. Bank of America plans to develop 12 acres of riverfront property off of Palm Avenue. The project will cost between $55 to $60 million. It will have 300 condominiums and 70 to 80 townhomes. Bank of America hopes to start construction by the fourth quarter of 2004.

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/dev1.jpg

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/dev2.jpg

Also, in regard to those opposed to the twin 30-story towers in Channelside....

I'm not really sure how I feel about this. Channelside, downtown, Harbour Island, and Hyde Park are all overly priced for any artist or young professional. Heck, most are borderline for even seasoned professionals. As much as I want to see the skyline and downtown develop, I'm not sure I want prices to go even higher. The question now is...how is the city of Tampa going to fix this property value problem? How are city leaders going to attract a diverse and creative crowd to live in the urban center, when none of us can afford it?

The funny thing is...I'd move to downtown right now. I already work down here. I'd love to live in an old warehouse or loft. I'd walk everywhere I could. I'd shop downtown, go out downtown, eat downtown. I'd even recruit all my friends to do the same...but I can't! Something needs to change.

Where the hell did you find that rendering? I have been looking for something for a while - do you have a link to the article it came from?

As for the artist thing - artists go to where the prices are low. You should not build low priced stuff just for artists. There are $150,000-200,000 lofts and condos around. There are rental areas. There aer many places young professionals - who spend more than that on their prized South Tampa apartments - can spend. I am not worried. Build the Civitas thing and it won't matter. BTW, the St. LAwrence/BoA project is also like that.

Those renderings came from the Tampa Tribune photo server. The story will run in the Central Tampa News on January 8th.

Here is another story I found regarding the Central Park development and how it relates to Tampa Heights... Forgive me if this was already posted somewhere....

Tampa Heights Group Seeks More Details On Civitas Plan (http://centraltampa.tbo.com/centraltampa/MGAKD8TLKOD.html)

how do you access and search that?

Well, unfortunately, you don't. I have access to it because I work for TBO.com. I'm a sports and weather producer, but we can search for just about anything. The only problem is, if there is a story about development, I probably won't see it, since I'm updating and posting sports stories.

I try to keep an eye open for major stories...such as this one from today....

City Profited In Land Sale Tied To Civitas (http://news.tbo.com/news/MGA7PP47ZOD.html)

One thing to note is...many of the stories about downtown, central, or south Tampa development find their way to our zone pages...such as the one I posted yesterday.

It looks like site work has begun in earnest at the Bellamy site. They're clearing the site and staking things out.

The Victory Lofts are well under way, with some formwork for the 2nd floor being placed.

The condo for One Bayshore continues as do the Parkcrest Apartments (Harbour Island). Both are several floors out of the ground.

Here are a few more photos of development in Tampa and some of the nightlife...

This first is of an architect's rendering that depicts the 42-unit Art Center Lofts project under construction in the downtown area on Doyle Carlton Drive...

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/artcenterlofts.jpg

The second is a nice photo of downtown and the Convention Center...

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/downtown1.jpg

The next is yet another photo of the convention center, but you can see some of the development going on behind it on Harbour Island and Channelside...

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/downtown2.jpg

This one is of the construction that is well underway for Parkside of One Bayshore condos at the corner of Bayshore Blvd and Platt Street...

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/downtown3.jpg

The last two are simply of the nightlife along 7th Ave several weeks ago in Ybor City. Enjoy...

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/ybor.jpg

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2003/ybor2.jpg

Those are great rarely seen shots of Tampa. I haven't been there in about two months, so I'm glad to see the photo showing One Bayshore coming out of the ground. Have they broken ground on the apartment tower at One Bayshore too?

No, just the condo tower. I bet that the apartment tower will be delayed or possibly scrapped all together in favor of more condos. Tampa's condo market is strong. It's rental market is not. I know that nothing indicates this change, it's just a hunch of mine.

It's kinda funny really, because the developer claimed that both towers would be built simultaneously, even after construction of the condo had begun. Yet nothing is going on with the apartment site, other than it being used as a staging area for the construction of the condo.

Here is some information on the new development going up on the corner of Dale Mabry and I-275...

Developer Says Vertical Mall Will Stack Up For Shoppers (http://news.tbo.com/news/MGABLZVB3PD.html)

Beware of the EVIL MARKHAM!!!

Recieved this E-mail today, about the Byrd Condos going before city council this week.


Now a developer has proposed to build a skyscraper in The Channel
District. Tampa City Council has to decide, at 6:30 PM on Thursday,
January 8, 2004, whether to permit a high-rise residential project called
The Towers of Channelside. The first high-rise towers in The Channel
District are likely to have a similar effect as the first nightclubs in
Ybor City. Although they provide an initial economic boost, they cause
surrounding property values to escalate so rapidly that other high-rise
developers are the only ones who can compete for the neighboring
properties. Arts communities in city after city have experienced the
same effect--they wither when property values skyrocket. Certainly
high-rise neighborhoods become densely populated-with yuppies and national
retailers like The Gap and Starbucks--but they lose the unique small
businesses and artistic enterprises that made them desirable in the first
place. The Board of Directors of the Channel District Council has voted
unanimously not to support the Towers of Channelside for several reasons,
one of which is that it GROSSLY exceeds the height limit. The Channel
District Council recommends that high-rise residential be built in The
Central Business District which is zoned and prepared for unlimited
height.

Do you care about the future of The Channel District? Now is the time to
show up or speak up! At the January 8, 2004 City Council meeting, I will
make a speech urging City Council to reject high-rise development in The
Channel District. The title of my speech is "Let the Ants Build It." My
argument is that a mass of artists, small-businesses and people living in
low-rise alternative residences such as lofts can make as great an
economic impact, over the long-term, as a high-rise condominium. We have
asked several artists and community supporters to create a "swarm" of
support by attending the City Council meeting DRESSED IN BLACK CLOTHING.
City Council is located on the third floor at 315 East Kennedy Boulevard.



She wants them dressed in Black . How freakin unoriginal. Charlie Miranda did that when the people voted to pay for the stadium.

What a leftist hippie nutcase. She should move somewhere like the forests of Northern California.

I don't get it! Channelside is already an overpriced yuppie district. They already have chain style businesses, and there isn't much to the district that encourages street life. The main shopping corridor has a parking garage and doesn't even face the street.

I understand her interest at keeping the area quirky, but I think she's a little late.

What is her email address, I'll respond to her letter! :bash:

This is the E-mail address her and her husband use for sending out the Channelside news letter . rmarkham@pol.net

Here is their website too, in case anyone wants to check it out!!
http://www.tampachanneldistrict.org/index.html

I just sent this email to the City Council - you can mass send email to them at this address http://www.tampagov.net/appl_Message_Center/form.asp?strServiceID=43

Send them an email before tonight. Copy mine if you like it, but just tell them that a friend showed you the email and you agreed with that it said so they do not think the smae person is mailing a bunch to them.

"Today you will be holding a hearing regarding condominiums in Channelside. Kim Markham, of the loud but tiny Channelside District Council, has posted on her website that she intends to deliver a speech entitled "Let the Ants Build It." The theme of this speech, she has written, is that Channelside should be a low-rise artist colony. In other words, Ms. Markham proposes that Channelside - the great blank slate upon which a vibrant urban core (as opposed to smallish Key West style, low tax revenue location) - should not be allowed to develop as it naturally would - and is - developing as the residential component to a living downtown - a central part of the city which should be highrise, dense, full of energy, and active.

The real question before you is "If not in Channelside, where?" Where would Tampa grow up not out? Where would there be the denisty of which the evidence shows (from sales of units) people are desirous? Where would the urban part of the city grow? Where will downtown get its urban residential component?

People complain about condominiums of Bayshore - very well, there are established residential neighborhoods there. Where else is there waterfront, open space that can be developed, an office center that is actually within walking distance (though it does not appear that way now)?

You have the opportunity to actually have Tampa develop a true, urban city or you can squander it, and the tax revenue, energy, and attractiveness that comes with it by letting the "ants" build it. Just remeber, ant hills may grow, but they also die - quickly - and the remaining ants move away.

In closing, I note that I have no relation to any developer in Channelside. I am simply a concerned, voting citizen who wants to be able to live in a city and not have to go to somewhere else to find it. Please support the condominiums."

I just sent a message Smiley....thank you for coordinating this effort to stop the Channelside NIMBY's.

Towers have been approved. I stayed up till 1 A.M. to see it. Council voted 4-2 in favor. Saul-sena and Ferlita voted against it . Dingfelder was against it til the last moment, he changed his mind.

I don't get Saul-Sena, she is educated in urban development, yet she votes this kind of stuff down all the time.

She panders to NIMBYs something terrible though. She's at best what I would call a "Sunbelt urbanist".

Well, I will remember her vote, but I don't think it is NIMBY stuff. I think she is just one of that large groups of locals who have little experience with real cities and can't get the little village they grew up with out of their minds. In any event, It passed. Now there is a large precendent and the momentum will keep going. If they block something nearby, they will get sued.

Congratulations. I did not stay up for the whole thing but I saw the architect presentation - once I figured out the drawings, I like it.

Of course, the Times scoops the Trib:
Tampa tower gets council's nod
Marathon session produces 4-2 vote to allow a high-rise residential tower in the Channel District. Later, after much discussion, the council postpones action on hotel project near Bern's.
By BRADY DENNIS, Times Staff Writer
Published January 9, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TAMPA - Sometime just after 1 a.m. this morning - after roughly 2 hours, 23 minutes and 50 seconds of democracy at its purest - they voted. And they voted yes.

Tampa City Council members voted 4-2 in favor of allowing developers to build two 30-story residential towers in the Channel District. The project, known as Towers of Channelside or Peninsular at Channelside, calls for more than 260 living units, plus parking in a three-story garage.

The first level would have 15,000 square feet of street-level retail and commercial spaces, as well as a 20,000-square-foot health club and a 60-foot waterfall. Developers envision one- to three-bedroom units priced at $275,000 to $325,000.

Only council president Linda Saul-Sena and councilwoman Rose Ferlita opposed the zoning vote to let developers to build the soaring structures (councilwoman Gwen Miller had left earlier in the marathon evening and did not vote). Both said they liked the idea of residential living in the area, but they felt the building was too high.

"I have really give this project a lot of thought. I have been pondering it deeply," Saul-Sena said. "(The Channel District) was supposed to have a raw, funky feeling. We didn't envision a building of this scale."

A small group of critics, many of them artists who live in the area, also came to protest the scale of the project. They begged council members to scale back the size of the towers, to leave the district to the artists and warehouses and small businesses.

"Our dreams might not be as grandiose as the towers at Channelside," said Kim Markham. "But if you give us time ... we will deliver a vibrant, creative and sustainable neighborhood.

Today's controversial decision came toward the end of a meeting that had started more than 7 hours earlier.

It was mind-numbingly long night in which people packed the council chambers like cattle, and the overflow of bodies stretched through the halls and down three flights of stairs and out the building into the chilly night.

It was a night when council members guzzled ice water and Diet Coke as the room grew so hot that sweat formed on nearly every forehead.

Most had come for the tower issue. But first there was discussion of cellular towers and concrete crushing and the construction of an Hispanic church. And then, about 10:39 p.m., the real debate began.

The site of the proposed towers is a 2.8-acre spot near 415 S 12th St., the site of a Fogarty Van Lines warehouse. Bound by Cumberland Avenue, Meridian and 12th Street, it sits across the street from the Channelside entertainment complex and next to the Tampa Port Authority's parking garage.

Even with the council's approval, developers must pre-sell 50 to 60 percent of the units to get backing from the bank.

Mayor Pam Iorio sent word that she supported the project. Dozens of backers turned out wearing stickers that said "Yes."

"All we're asking is please let us invest $93-million into our community," developer Rich Sacchi told council members.

In the end, he got his wish, thanks to John Dingfelder, Kevin White, Mary Alvarez and Shawn Harrison.

"I don't want to send this developer packing, in terms of denial," said Dingfelder, expressing concerns over the building's height. "I don't want to say no. I think that would be the wrong signal."

Said Harrison, who made the motion for approval: "It's a great, very visionary, very aggressive project."

The City Council then, finally, turned its attention to plans for a proposed four-story, 86-room boutique hotel across the street from the famous Bern's Steakhouse on South Howard Ave.

The "culinary destination" is the brainchild of David Laxer, son of Bern's founder, Bern Laxer. The project would be built over what is now a parking lot. It would include another restaurant, a wine shop and a spa on its third floor, and another retail business on the ground floor - either a bakery or cheese shop.

Del Acosta, the city's historic preservation manager, spoke for the Architectural Review Commission at the meeting early this morning. He urged that the building's height be varied, higher in places, lower in others, with broader setbacks and restricted garage entrances, to make the project more pedestrian friendly, allow for trees in the median, and present an architecturally varied structure.

Hyde Park architect Roger Grunke criticized the design for having narrow sidewalks, an arcade that dead-ends instead of allowing pedestrians to pass through, and a design that intermingles pedestrians, valet parking, and delivery service.

"Sidewalk cafes, arcades -- they're more than just words," he said. "You have to have the space to do it."

Saul-Sena asked that the developer consider sprucing up the existing Bern's property across the street, which the owner agreed to consider.

At 1:59 a.m. the council finished hearing public comment, and Councilman Harrison reviewed items the board wants the Bern's officials to consider, including dead-ending Moody Ave. at Southview Ave., adding a fence to buffer the project from its neighbors, and eliminating parallel parking along Southview. James Shimberg Jr., attorney for the project, said those conditions were acceptable.

Dingfelder suggested adding landscaping to the part of the building that would be seen from the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway, and saving some remnant of the awning of a Depression-era gas station that is on the property.

The council directed the developer to meet with neighbors again, and discuss the project further with the ARC. They postponed further action until the council meeting on Jan. 22.

At 2:09 a.m., the council adjourned.

Times staff writers Dong-Phoung Nguyen and Morris Kennedy contributed to this report.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/09/Hillsborough/Tampa_tower_gets_coun.shtml

Loft project begins in arts district
By GRACE AGOSTIN, RON MATUS
Published January 9, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DOWNTOWN - Construction has begun on a 42-unit loft project at 1501 Doyle Carlton Drive near Tampa's proposed cultural arts district.

The Art Center Lofts feature 10-foot ceilings, hardwood floors, wood cabinets, granite counter tops, garden bathtubs, walk-in closets and balconies overlooking the Hillsborough River. Amenities include a pool, sun deck and gated parking.

The $8.4-million project is part of efforts to spark residential development in downtown Tampa. It is located near the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa Museum of Art, Stetson Law School and University of Tampa.

Units range from the $140,000s to the $270,000s and should be available for occupancy this fall. For information, call Smith & Associates Realtors at 839-3800.

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/09/Citytimes/Loft_project_begins_i.shtml

I also have a picture of the rendering of the Place at channelside that appeared in the Trib in December, If someone (Jasonhouse) will give me a email to send it to (you said you were changing you email)

And here it is. I cleaned it up a bit... :)


http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/8the_place_12-03_tribune.jpg



I must say, it's a nice looking building.

It's a bit generic, but I will take it, as long as it sits in the shadow of taller buildings down the street.

IF anyone can get the picutres (in the Central Tampa section so you have to buy the paper downtown or there abouts)

Project On Riverfront Still In Planning Stages
By JOSE PATINO GIRONA jpatino@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 10, 2004




TAMPA HEIGHTS - Bank of America's plan to build riverfront condominiums in Tampa Heights remains intact, although the land remains undeveloped since the project was announced in late 2002.
The bank has demolished two buildings and cleared the proposed lot. It is currently doing environmental studies on the land, where soil contamination and old construction debris have been found.

The soil contamination is isolated to about 1 acre and is not a major problem, said Marybeth Storts, senior vice president for community development banking. Pieces of concrete and cable also were found, which may have come from the demolition of the Garcia Avenue Bridge years ago, Storts said. The findings haven't delayed the project and aren't unusual when urban redevelopment is involved, she said.

``When you go back to an urban neighborhood like this, issues like these crop up,'' Storts said. ``You just have to be prepared to slow down and deal with them.''

Bank of America closed on some of the parcels in November 2002 and on property owned by the city in August and is waiting to close on a few parcels to complete the 12-acre site, Storts said.

The $55 million to $60 million project will have an estimated 300 condominiums surrounded by 70 to 80 town houses next to the Hillsborough River off of West Palm Avenue, North Boulevard and Ola Avenue. Prices will start at $170,000.

Now, no condos or town houses are for sale. The designs are concepts and can change, Storts said. Final renderings should be completed by the summer, and construction could start in the fourth quarter of this year.

In urban redevelopment there are a number of details to clear up, making it hard to set specific dates, Storts said. In this project, for instance, there is the environmental study and work, buying property from several parties, rezoning and redevelopment. The old wooden sea wall along the Hillsborough River also will have to be replaced, Storts said.

Plans to develop the property have been ongoing for years. Former Mayor Dick Greco advocated for riverfront development in Tampa Heights. There were several developers who courted the property, but all turned away, including Centex, one of the nation's largest home builders.

Greco stayed on course, and Bank of America agreed to a deal.

``There is nothing insurmountable out there,'' Storts said. ``It is just a matter of taking the proper steps and getting it resolved.''


Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7605.

http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGA7VWOV8PD.html

The retail section - I don't know if the paper has more
http://media.tbo.com/photos/trib/2004/jan/0109condo.jpg

Tampa City Council Approves 30-Story Channelside Towers
By JANIS D. FROELICH jfroelich@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 10, 2004




TAMPA - Channel District Council President Claude Bonanni led the pell-mell charge down the city hall stairs at 1 a.m. Friday.
It had been a long night of Tampa City Council zoning decisions, and the controversial Towers of Channelside project didn't come up until 10:40 p.m. Thursday.

The 4-2 vote to allow construction of a pair of 30-story condominium towers, which will be the tallest in the Channel District, was not unexpected, given Mayor Pam Iorio's approval of the project.

``The mayor really wants downtown residential,'' a disappointed Bonanni said.

Bonanni and others from the district told council members earlier that they opposed the residential towers, which will loom 360 feet high in an area zoned for 60 feet.

Already, five developments approved by the city council in the past year for the warehouse district have ranged from 70 feet to 160 feet high. Byrd Corp. plans to build two more 30-story towers on Tampa Port Authority land about 50 feet from the Towers of Channelside.

``This urban landscape is changing forever,'' said a jubilant Mike McGuinness.

McGuinness is developer of the 273-unit Towers of Channelside, which will include a 30,000- square-foot health club whose ownership is sought by five hopefuls, including Joe Redner.

``We were worried the height issue would be the sticking point,'' McGuinness said Friday afternoon. ``But legally there was no justification the city could give for not approving us.''

During the hearing, council Chairwoman Linda Saul-Sena told an overflow crowd ``The design is superb,'' but she said the towers took away from the ``raw, funky feeling'' of the district, and she voted against it.

Saul-Sena said that when she helped draft a master plan for the Channel District in 1993, ``We did not envision buildings of this scale.''

In approving the development, the city council also agreed to close some streets. Meridian Avenue and North 12th Street will end where Fogarty Van Lines operates at East Cumberland Avenue.

In return, Towers of Channelside, which purchased the 2.8-acre site from Fogarty, will add a bus stop, rooftop video equipment for city traffic control, and will pay for landscaping on Tampa Port Authority adjacent property.

Supporters of the project wore neon green ``yes'' badges.

New resident Ron Laker, who moved into Channelside Loft 212 at 12th Street, said, ``We need anchors here to bring bodies into the area.''

Opponents wore ``Let the Ants Build It'' buttons. They symbolized the grass-roots effort waged in the Channel District the past decade, said Kim Markham, who publishes the community's newsletter.

She recalled how the area was shabby and populated with drug dealers and prostitutes until artists from Ybor City moved in and transformed a handful of lofts into work and living space.

Markham said the council's approval of Towers of Channelside will have a ``similar effect of the first nightclub in Ybor City.''

Councilwoman Mary Alvarez said she understood that ``Artists have been moved from place to place, but that's progress.''

``I don't want to send this developer packing,'' Councilman John Dingfelder said before casting the deciding favorable vote. ``But I'd like to see them revise this plan to something more in the midrange'' in height.

Stephanie Gaines of Curts Gaines Hall Architects said her firm handled major redesign on the $93 million project to better fit the pedestrian feel of the Channel District.

Awnings, shade trees, benches, upward of 12,500 square feet of retail space, plus street-window art gallery space have been added since the original concept.

``We obviously want to work with the community, and that process won't stop,'' Gaines said.

McGuinness, along with partner Rich Sacchi, plan to break ground by early next year.

Condominium units will start at $275,000, and the opening is planned for June 2006.


Reporter Janis D. Froelich can be reached at (813) 259-7143.
http://www.tampatrib.com/Business/MGA3EYH39PD.html

So, what does everyone think of what this will do to the skyline?

I think it's great that the DT area is growing, but it is a slight shame that Tampa's skyline will no longer be the compact and dense skyline that it has been for the past 12 years. To me, the Channelside/Harbour Island skyline is so separated from the DT core that it's really a separate skyline to me. Until there is some backfill between the two (which likely won't happen for at least 10-15 years), it's going to look bigger, but very sparse.

Originally posted by Jasonhouse

So, what does everyone think of what this will do to the skyline?

I think it's great that the DT area is growing, but it is a slight shame that Tampa's skyline will no longer be the compact and dense skyline that it has been for the past 12 years. To me, the Channelside/Harbour Island skyline is so separated from the DT core that it's really a separate skyline to me. Until there is some backfill between the two (which likely won't happen for at least 10-15 years), it's going to look bigger, but very sparse.

I think it will look great in person because most of my views of the Skyline come from the interstates, coming down I-4 towards DT will look improved and also coming down I-275 from either way will look improved.

Unfortunatly from the ussual picture spots (ie. from the water towards DT) I think it will cause it to be unbalanced but I'm hoping the other infill projects in Channelside help that out. Also the new towers are still 100' or more shorter then the tallest office towers so they won't stick out that bad. I think once we get used to them it will be fine, I wouldn't turn then down anyway :colgate:

Well, I have been thinking about this alot and I want more of it. First the North-South Axis will be almost filled byt he embassy suites, linking Harbour Islan all the way to the Fed Courthouse.

East West is a little more messed up, but with the condos in the south, they will actually link up. I have no problem with clusters and the infill will be natural. We already have a Cahnnelside/Habrour Island cluster and a One Bayshore area cluster is forming. I am very happy with it. The more the merrier. I think the compactness is misleading and simply indicates a smaller city. real skyline undulate for a while. I am down with it.

I'm very happy with this project. I think the thing to understand here is, the city is making progress. Channelside is the most logical place for highrise downtown development. Obviously there are other plots of land in the cbd that could use some highrise development, but I'm glad to see the city is making this happen. Hopefully more will follow and the addition of highrises to Channelside will draw more residents because of the urban feel it will bring the neighborhood.

I came across another rendering of this project, so here it is...

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2004/jan/0111channel1.jpg

My question for everyone is about Ybor. I'm fairly new to Tampa, so I'm not familiar with the history of the district. Why does it have a bad rap and what can be done to fix it? Reading the story in our paper about Centro Ybor and Baywalk was somewhat distressful. I like to think of Tampa as much more vibrant than St. Pete and hope Centro can improve it's image.

NIce Rendering. As for Ybor, the reason it does not do as well as Baywalk - at least on the land payments - is that there are not as many people living near it and more to do in Tampa. There is no where else to go in st. Pete, while Ybor itself has more to do than just Centro ybor. I am not worried. these things take time. Channelside is the same way. It is quiet. It will rock in five years.

Here is an atricle on Stetson, just north of downtown

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/12/images/xlarge/B_4_4bstetson_176861_0112.jpg

Stetson opens Tampa campus
The satellite location opens Thursday, serving part-time law students and the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
By GRAHAM BRINK, Times Staff Writer
Published January 12, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Times photo: Thomas Goethe]
The satellite location of Stetson University College of Law resembles the Gulfport main campus with its Spanish Mediterranean architecture. Construction delays have pushed back the school's opening to Thursday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



TAMPA - On Thursday, for the first time, students will begin earning law degrees at a campus in Hillsborough County.

That's the day the Stetson University College of Law swings open the doors of its new campus on Tampa Street just north of Interstate 275.

The facility, known officially as Tampa Law Center and Campus, will become the first satellite operation for a law school in Florida and one of the first in the nation, school officials say.

The three-story building resembles Stetson's Gulfport campus, with Spanish Mediterranean architecture and a watchtower.

Workers are still putting the finishing touches on the building, and the landscaping hasn't been completed. But the law school's interim dean, Darby Dickerson, is sure the building will be ready for Thursday's opening.

"Having a physical presence in Tampa is very important to us," Dickerson said. "It will allow us to establish links to Tampa's businesses and the legal community that are hard to make from across the bay."

Stetson began searching for a location for a satellite campus several years ago.

The school paid $1.6-million for the property and for the city to tear down the old police station that stood there for years. The school poured another $9.8-million into building costs.

Construction began a year ago. The building was scheduled to open last Thursday, but some last-minute construction prompted Dickerson to delay the event for a week.

The campus was the dream of former dean Gary Vause, who died of cancer last year. The atrium of the new building will be named after Vause at a ceremony in February.

"He was a big reason why this happened," Dickerson said.

The first would-be lawyers to make use of the new campus will be the 130 students in Stetson's part-time law program, which began in 2002 for students who work during the day or have family obligations.

The part-time class is expected to grow to 250 to 300 students in the next two years. They tackle the same curriculum as the school's 765 full-time law students, but the program takes four years instead of three and most of the classes are at night.

At first, they'll take about 20 percent of their classes at the Tampa campus and the rest at the law school's main campus in Gulfport.

Dickerson has hopes that more of the classes will eventually be taught in Tampa. She said the accreditation agency set the number of classes that could be offered away from the main campus.

"Right now, we are a guinea pig for part-time law programs at satellite campuses," Dickerson said. "Eventually, we might be able to offer two-thirds of the classes in Tampa."

The part-time students will share the three-story building with the 2nd District Court of Appeal, which will rent office space and use the courtroom and law library.

Half of the appellate court's 14 judges will work out of the Tampa location, said Chief Judge Chris Altenbernd, who expected to move out of the Hillsborough County Courthouse on Jan. 20.

"There is still some work to be done on the building," Altenbernd said. "Our fingers are crossed."

Around the country, it's one of the first campuses to mix a law school and appeals court in the same building.

The courtroom will pull double duty, with real cases heard during the day and student mock trials at night.

Altenbernd and Dickerson hope the setup creates a synergy that enriches both institutions.

Altenbernd said he looked forward to brainstorming with school officials "to make each of us better and stronger."

"I would be very surprised if my staff isn't anxious to stay after work to participate with the students' classes," he said.

The campus will also have another new resident in the next few years. The Hillsborough County Bar Association plans to build a new headquarters on the property.

The campus could also support three more buildings and a parking garage, said Stetson spokesman Frank Klim.

"Those plans are not definite," Klim said. "But we have been approached by other courts and legal organizations."

- Graham Brink can be reached at brink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3365.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/12/Hillsborough/Stetson_opens_Tampa_c.shtml

I really think once those connector streets go in from Meridian to Downtown, you are going to see all hell break loose with mid rise and highrise construction.The connectors will be outside the channel district.

I don't think the actual Channelside area will see any more High rise, other than Byrd and maybe to the far north. The council stated they only let this go through, because half the property was in the CBD and was on the southern end of the Channel district.

As far as Ybor, I think it will continue to wither until more residential gets done. There are about 6 projects being built down there right now. Each has any where from 4 to about 20 units. I think it will help a little. Still need a little more residential.

Ok, Just throwing this out there! They say there is only one piece of Bayshore property left that is zoned for high rise and that is the Howard and Bayshore property. I am going to speculate that in less than 5 yrs, a developer will propose tearing down "The Bayshore"(the ugly 3 story pink and baby blue buildings between 345 and One Bayshore)and put in a substantial highrise.

I realize this is guess work, But what do you guys think?

Not sure about that because he would have to buy out all the owners of the Condos (I think it is condos not apartments). I would rather it all go downtown, myself, and get real urban density.

As for Ybro, there are rumblings that the companies, like Kimmins, with warehouses south of 7th want to develop the land. It hink will happen as an extension of the Channelside/Civitas thing (which will all boost Ybor in their own right). This area is clearly seen as the palce to build now. It will get developed - probably not as fast as I want, but so be it.

As for downtown, let Channelside be 7 stories tall with a few exception. I agree, the Meridian project is about as important as all the condos. Once people see how close Channelside actually is to the office buildings - when the tracks are torn up it ionly a two blocks on Kennedy and about 5 blocks on Washington - it will go quite nicely, I think. In 5 years, we will be looking at a completely different animal, unless the economy tanks.

Originally posted by smiley

Not sure about that because he would have to buy out all the owners of the Condos (I think it is condos not apartments).

Oh! Didn't know that. I thought they were apts. I guess that changes things a bit!

just looked it up . This web site says they are Apts.
http://www.crescent-resources.com/apartments/thebayshore/default.asp

Just a word on that, I think you have to be areful. The Crecent property is the three story apartments between 345 bayshore and Bayshore One - which may actually be zoned for highrise. The pink 10 story Bayshore at Howard is a different building, that actually used to be attractive until they modernized it with that idiotic top. I will see if I can find the old picture later. I thinkthat building is condos.

http://zerver.thpl.lib.fl.us/archive07/2585.jpg

http://zerver.thpl.lib.fl.us/archive07/2752.jpg

http://zerver.thpl.lib.fl.us/archive03/8143.jpg

Looks like they have messed with it from the beginning - note the top floor was added after initial construction. (1925-1927)

I wouldn't be all that shocked to see some houses dissapear and thier land rezoned to accomodate denser growth along Bayshore. Certainly not alot of it, but I think another 5-7 towers only near the north end of it is perfectly reasonable.

Originally posted by smiley

The Crecent property is the three story apartments between 345 bayshore and Bayshore One - which may actually be zoned for highrise. The pink 10 story Bayshore at Howard is a different building, that actually used to be attractive until they modernized it with that idiotic top. I will see if I can find the old picture later. I thinkthat building is condos.

Hey Smiley. The Crecent Property was the property I was refering to about putting up High rises. I reread my original statement and It was a bit confusing. MY BAD!!

I was saying since the property at Howard(actually DeLeon, I think) and Bayshore was the last vacant High Rise property, Do you think they may tear down the Crescent Property for a high Rise.

I really need to learn to word my statements better!! again, Sorry!!

Notice the VERY interesting statement highlighted in this article...

It appears that something quite intensive is getting built behind the Post Apartments.



________________________________________________________________




Lindell Selling 3 Dealerships


By DAVE SIMANOFF dsimanoff@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 13, 2004




TAMPA - Carl Lindell Jr., owner of Honda and Volkswagen car dealerships in Tampa and a Mazda dealership in St. Petersburg, is leaving the automotive industry to focus full- time on his growing real estate business.
Lindell announced Monday that he's selling Lindell Honda and Lindell Volkswagen, both at 3900 W. Kennedy Blvd. in Tampa, to Jason Kuhn, the former owner of BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen and Acura dealerships in Gainesville, and of Bay Ford in Pasco County. Lindell said he is talking with prospective buyers for Lindell Mazda, at 3300 Tyrone Blvd. in St. Petersburg, and hopes to have a deal in place in 30 days.

At 34, Kuhn is 10 years older than Lindell was when he took over the business from his father in 1969. Kuhn, a tax lawyer by training, got involved in auto sales through his in-laws, who own a chain of dealerships in South Florida.

``Six months into the practice of law, I realized I was not long for the business because I was more interested in what my clients were doing, than in what I was doing for them,'' he said.

Kuhn wouldn't disclose the purchase price for the Honda and Volkswagen dealerships, but he called it ``an expensive deal.'' His company, Direct Automotive Management Inc., is backed by family members and businessman Larry Morgan, the former owner of automotive retailer Morgan Tire.

Kuhn said he eventually will change the name of the Honda and Volkswagen dealerships but hasn't settled on a name. He said he plans to use the Lindell name for at least one year.

Lindell said it will be strange to see a different name flying over the dealerships. He wanted to sell the dealerships because he has been spending more time with his real estate companies, Lindell Properties and Lindell Investments, during the past six years, he said. He also plans to create a property management and leasing firm.

Letting go of the dealerships ``is not going to be easy, but it's the right thing to do,'' he said.

Lindell Properties is developing Wilderness Lake Preserve, a 680-acre residential area in Pasco. His firm also is teaming with the Dallas-based Patrinely Group to build three condominium towers, with about 350 combined units, on 4 acres on Harbour Island in downtown Tampa.

Ron Weisser, president of Lindell Properties, said that the condominium towers are still in development and that construction should start by the end of the year. The buildings are expected to be complete in 2006, and units will be priced from $400,000 to $3 million.

Lindell Properties is looking at property for a 1,700-acre residential development in Fort Myers and is also building the 36-house Keystone Shores development near Keystone Lake in northwest Hillsborough County.

Lindell Volkswagen has been on Kennedy Boulevard since 1962, and Lindell Honda opened on the same site in 1976. Lindell bought the Mazda dealership in St. Petersburg in 1986.

Lindell said sales have grown from $4 million in 1962 to about $100 million annually.


Reporter Dave Simanoff can be reached at (813) 259-7762.

Well, now that's kind of odd. 360 units in highrises on 4 acres? Where is that land. All I can say is I hope it is right nest to the apartments - for maximum density. Maybe they will rip out the old aprtments on the northeast side and build there. I would take that replacement in an instant.

As for the Crecent property, I think it is entirely likely that in afew years they will try to build something bigger there. There are few local residents and the new residents will be in high rises. seems like a good fit though I have no info to back that up.

As I said in my letter on Channelside, if not there, where?

From the St. PEte times article on Lindell:

"On Harbour Island, Lindell Properties plans to break ground by yearend on three 20-story condo towers. The $250-million development is a joint venture with Patrinely Group, high-rise developers from Houston."

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/13/Business/Car_dealer_Lindell_lo.shtml

Did a little asking and have been told that the Condos are slated for the norht side of the island near the Post property. This leads me to conclude that they are on the lot which is presently occupied bythe now very out of place strip store thingy and where the construction equipment is. If built, that, my firends, will make northern Habrour Island very dense.

That is great. I thought they were building 1, 20 story building.

So we have, the "One bayshore towers", three 20 story condo's on harbour Island, the hotel across from the convention center and the four towers at the south end of Channelside.
The south end of downtown is getting thick with high rises.

Originally posted by smiley

Did a little asking and have been told that the Condos are slated for the norht side of the island near the Post property. This leads me to conclude that they are on the lot which is presently occupied bythe now very out of place strip store thingy and where the construction equipment is. If built, that, my firends, will make northern Habrour Island very dense.



That's exactly where the project is. This was announced previously, but only as a single 20 story condo that would include a retail base which would feature a few nieghborhood shops (dry cleaner, etc) and 2-3 restaurants.

Apparently the project has grown and changed significantly.


There is still the lot at the eastern side of the north end, at the intersection of Beneficial Dr and Knights Way (?)... I wonder if that parcel is part of the project as well, or if something will be built by another developer at a later time?

The encouraging thing in all of this is that Harbour Island has never had any trouble selling anything built on the island (except for the Shops, which if they existed now would probably do quite well). It's almost as if the Island generates its own demand, growing without really adversely affecting other projects around town.

Report on TBO.com says Iorio supports the Civitas deal, so its looking good for that huge project. I think the commisioners are gonna approve it if it has her backing.

74 Lofts With A View
By JANIS D. FROELICH jfroelich@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 15, 2004




TAMPA - When One Laurel Place opened in the early 1980s, the downtown housing market was so lukewarm that the builder had to hang on to a fourth of the 97 units for years.
Another 96 units planned as the second phase on the adjacent land never was built.

Instead, Laurel Place's owner sold the 1-acre plot to Miles Properties of Atlanta.

And now, construction has begun on Art Center Lofts, a five-story, 42-unit building near North Doyle Carlton Drive and West Laurel Street, within view of the Ashley Street exit of Interstate 275.

But Dallas Coffield of Smith & Associates Realtors is banking more on the view of the Hillsborough River to sell the units.

He says tagging the project as the only new downtown residential construction in more than 20 years won't hurt, either.

``I'm fielding four or five phone calls a day on this project,'' said Coffield, standing in the dust of the construction site on a recent morning.

Workers are laying the groundwork for the $8.4 million building, which is near the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa Museum of Art, Stetson Law School and the University of Tampa.

``I'm having interest across the board, from college students to downtown professionals,'' Coffield said. ``Even some families have called, which was unexpected because the units aren't large by housing standards.''

The price of the units recently increased about 5 percent, he said. Selling costs are about $147,000 to $275,000 for floor plans ranging from a 737-square-foot, one-bedroom unit to a 1,300-square-foot, two-story, two-bedroom unit. Total, there are 12 two- bedroom and 30 one-bedroom units.

Soon, Coffield plans to sign contracts after looking over the reservations. Art Center Lofts should be completed by fall.

``We are almost in the theater district,'' said Coffield, explaining why the floor plans have names such as The Monet and The Van Gogh.

Coffield said the project will clear some of the scrub across the street on the river, which should open up views more.

``Miles was really ready to go on this project and it shows,'' Coffield said. ``They've worked in other downtowns, and it's been successful.''

The lofts will have the standard exposed duct work and concrete walls.

Touches include granite counter tops, stainless steel sinks and wood cabinets.

Coffield said the Art Center Lofts could be what spurs downtown residential.

In 1979, The Tampa Tribune reported that the 10-story One Laurel Place was viewed as the catalyst.

Then, the Tampa Downtown Development Authority said downtown residential ``is a must if related development is expected to take place.''

The report by the authority called for at least 1,500 residential units downtown, which never happened.


Reporter Janis D. Froelich can be reached at (813) 259-7143.

http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGAXR0S1GPD.html

Cool.

The good thing in all of this is that with so many projects proposed, prices should be very competitive, especially for folks who buy during presales.

The Tampa City Council approved a controversial plan to redevelop parts of downtown Tampa.

City council members voted 5-to-2 Thursday afternoon in favor of moving forward with the Civitas project.

Personally can't believe any of them voted against it.

It is great though. If this comes about with all the other projects, we may have a descent down town in the next few years.

The county apparently said they would "negotiate" or some other nonsense. Thus, no one has any idea what is going on. It will live, just in what form? who knows.

I wish that they would impeach Rhonda Storms simply for being an utterly immature and embarrassing fucktard.

The articles to be in the papers tomorrow indicate that this is effectively dead right at this moment, because the county is childishly enagaged in a "no-vote" stance while they pull thier heads out of thier asses, and actually make a real decision.

It's not dead, it will metamorphisize. Yes, the commissioners are fools - all of them. They are a millsotne around our necks. The plan will change. Turanchik and his moeny guys aren't goingto stop just because of Rhonda Storms or Jan Platt.

And when it really comes down to the brack tacks, I just CAN'T BELIEVE how openly racist so many commisioners are!

The writing on the wall is as clear as day... Commissioners would have approved this easily, so long as two concerns were met...

...the kinks with the special taxing district were worked out (they were)

...and so long as the city could have gauranteed that those "Central Park residents" (re: they're all poor, and nearly all are black) displaced during and after construction wouldn't wind up in unincorporated areas of the county (re: the rich white suburbs of the commision's constituents)...

Yeah, that's it in a nutshell. The commissioners knocked this down over fears that displaced poor blacks would be soon coming to a nieghborhood near them...

This is breaking news from this morning...

_____________________________________________________________


Civitas Plans Go Back To County

A Tribune Staff Report
Published: Jan 16, 2004


Civitas' plans for Tampa's Central Park area are back in the hands of the Hillsborough County Commission.
The Tampa Housing Authority voted this morning to ask the commission to reconsider a decision that would allow the authority and Civitas to move forward with a joint application for a $20 million federal grant.

County Commission Chairman Thomas Scott told the authority he would try to arrange the meeting but it is unlikely the board will back down.

``That's not going to go anywhere,'' Scott told the housing authority board. ``If I were in your position, I would ask the county and city to get together and negotiate.''

After speaking to the mayor on the telephone, the housing authority decided to instead ask the county to vote again.

The housing authority wants to mail the application by Saturday in order to meet Tuesday's deadline.

If the county commission does not give its support by 5 p.m., the housing authority plans to submit its solo application.

``It all boils down to money,'' said Gerald White, housing board member. ``To me, if the county and city can't work things out, it tells me our structure of government is broken.''

Civitas wants the authority's 28-acre Central Park Village complex so it can redevelop 157 acres between downtown and Ybor City. Both city and county governments would need to approve special taxing to help pay for roads, parking garages and other infrastructure.

And when it really comes down to the brack tacks, I just CAN'T BELIEVE how openly racist so many commisioners are!

The writing on the wall is as clear as day... Commissioners would have approved this easily, so long as two concerns were met...

...the kinks with the special taxing district were worked out (they were)

...and so long as the city could have gauranteed that those "Central Park residents" (re: they're all poor, and nearly all are black) displaced during and after construction wouldn't wind up in unincorporated areas of the county (re: the rich white suburbs of the commision's constituents)...

Yeah, that's it in a nutshell. The commissioners knocked this down over fears that displaced poor blacks would be soon coming to a nieghborhood near them...

You have to be kidding....right? Its hard to stomach that this is the reason this project isn't moving forward. I thought we were past the 1960's.

No. This is exactly what it's about. The county's position is that if it is going to have to "deal with" more of these unsavory inner city blacks living in county areas, then the county wants additional funding to pay for them.

Think of this. It is utterly tyrannical.

The county doesn't want these blacks in its nieghborhoods, so it is telling the city that if they do move, that the city has to pay for them, by giving the county money. WHY should city taxpayers foot the bill for residents who aren't even living in thier jurisdiction?

I'll tell you why. RACISM. Specifically economic racism.

Time runs out on Civitas project


After a day of negotiations, Hillsborough commissioners say they won't agree to terms needed to seek a grant to help redevelop Tampa's Central Park area.

By DAVID KARP and BILL VARIAN
Published January 16, 2004



TAMPA - A sweeping redevelopment project that promised to revitalize one of Tampa's poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods appears to be dead.

The Hillsborough County Commission refused Thursday night to agree to terms that developers, the head of the Tampa Housing Authority and Mayor Pam Iorio said they needed to apply for a $20-million federal grant to redevelop Tampa's Central Park area.

Without the vote, the project cannot go forward, they said.

Developer Ed Turanchik said afterward his company will withdraw its proposal.

"I think we may not have the maturity to be the kind of community that people say they want us to be," Turanchik said.

He praised the mayor and housing authority for professional work, but called commissioners' comments shocking.

"I am so sick and tired of people expressing concerns about public housing residents, and at the same time, saying, "We don't want any of those people in our neighborhood,' " Turanchik said. "I mean, there is something malignant about that."

Jerome Ryans, executive director of the Tampa Housing Authority, left the commission chambers Thursday night, his head down.

"It's just incredible," he said.

His board will meet today at 8:30 a.m. to decide what to do.

Instead of joining with Turanchik's group, the housing authority is left with a smaller project for Central Park. It would still mean Central Park would get rebuilt. But residents would have to move during construction, though they would get a chance to return.

The smaller project depends on getting a $20-million federal grant. And the competition is stiff.

Ryans said they had a much better chance of getting the money by joining forces with Turanchik.

"That would have been a great application," he said. "It would have put us in a very, very competitive mode."

The broader plan would have redeveloped 157 acres, rather than 28 acres. It would have created a master-planned community with 13 more acres of parks, retail stores and a lake.

Commission Chairman Tom Scott, who backed the plan, was disappointed.

"It's unfortunate that the city and county have played politics with the lives and living conditions of the poor people of Central Park," Scott said.

Scott said he was "tired and exhausted and frustrated" after more than three hours of debate that was peppered with drama. The result was a 4-3 vote by commissioners offering to consider creating a special taxing district needed for the project, with the details to be negotiated later.

Earlier in the day, Tampa's mayor sent a letter to commissioners saying she had reached terms with developers for creating the taxing district, which would help pay for roads and other improvement in the new Central Park. Part of the terms involved amending an agreement between the city and county in order to allow the taxing district to be created.

In her letter to commissioners, Iorio asked that they accept the amendment without change - and that became a sticking point for commissioners.

The proposal appeared headed for a quick rejection. On Tuesday, Commissioner Jim Norman, a perceived swing vote, had complained that Iorio was absent from a discussion of the Central Park. He raised the same objection Thursday, voicing his displeasure at her absence.

In walked Iorio, returning from a conference of urban mayors in Orlando.

She told commissioners she hadn't been at the earlier discussion because she was still in negotiations and had nothing to recommend at that time. On Thursday, she told them she had negotiated a deal that best safeguarded taxpayers. The Tampa City Council had approved it earlier in the day in a 5-2 vote.

She turned detail questions over to her staff, and said she wasn't prepared to discuss the overall merits of the proposal. She said she had merely started the ball rolling.

"This is a narrowly drawn issue," Iorio said. "There's no implied endorsement."

But commissioners wanted to get into the details, and the exchange became tense at times.

"I'm not comfortable until you explain the mass exodus of people who will not be able to stay there. Where will these people live, and who will pay for them?" Norman said.

Fine question, Iorio said. But one for a future day.

Commissioner Ronda Storms complained about being rushed, and asked Iorio repeatedly to explain her recommendation. She expressed frustration that Iorio and the City Council failed to take up the county's offer to meet jointly. Storms wanted to know why a conceptual approval by commissioners wasn't enough.

She got frustrated when Iorio answered only that "I think the action that the City Council took this morning is what needs to take place."

"I understand you have a particular way of asking a question," Iorio said. "I have a particular way of answering. I will always treat you with respect."

"Pardon me for anything that appears disrespectful," Storms said back. "I'm not intending to be. If I were intending to be disrespectful, I would be stronger."

Iorio left, and the debate continued, with Storms moving to give conceptual approval, despite the warnings from the mayor's advisers that she would not accept it.

"We should have been given the opportunity to negotiate this," Storms said. "I'm sorry some people find that disrespectful."

In the end, the commissioners who raised the most objections to the project - Storms, Norman and Pat Frank - voted with Scott in supporting conceptual approval of the taxing district.

Joe Robinson, a black Republican political activist, afterward accused his fellow party members of racism. He said their repeated concerns about poor residents getting displaced from Central Park to other areas, such as near the University of South Florida, was a smokescreen.

"The don't want black folks to come out to the university area," Robinson said. "They want to keep the black folks and the crime in the inner city."

Storms called the allegation "patently false."

She said the issue has to do with the city forcing people who are poor into the unincorporated areas, which does involve a cost to taxpayers to care for them.

"It doesn't have to do with the color of skin, it has to do with money" Storms said.

Reached at home Thursday night, Iorio said she would not negotiate further with the county. City taxpayers were the ones with a financial risk if the development went bust, she said. The city had agreed to back bonds to help pay for the project's infrastructure. The county government did not have bonds at stake.

If the county couldn't accept the terms, the deal would not work, Iorio said.

Iorio did not want a repeat of what happened under former Mayor Dick Greco with the Centro Ybor shopping center project. Greco backed loans for Centro Ybor, and when sales at Centro Ybor slumped, taxpayers were left with a $16-million bailout.

"I will not have that happen on my watch," Iorio said.

Iorio is so tight with her money that she doesn't even use an ATM. She determines what money she needs each month, and withdraws it one time.

"We haven't looked at the pretty pictures," Iorio said. "It is not of interest how many condos or latte bars there will be. My interest is to show we can protect the taxpayers."

Thursday night, Iorio said the housing's authority smaller plan for Central Park would still improve lives. Turanchik's more ambitious project might have failed eventually.

"There were so many "ifs' in this process," Iorio said. "It was a process that had not yet begun."

"I think we may not have the maturity to be the kind of community that people say they want us to be," Turanchik said.

He praised the mayor and housing authority for professional work, but called commissioners' comments shocking.

"I am so sick and tired of people expressing concerns about public housing residents, and at the same time, saying, "We don't want any of those people in our neighborhood,' " Turanchik said. "I mean, there is something malignant about that."

The outcome of this story is a load of shit. Even though they had a problem with poor minorities "potentially" moving to the county, thats something that could have been worked out at a much later date, after the application of the federal grant. The worst part about it is that Turanchik comments are probably dead on. I guess this is another reason why consolidated-city/county governments work best. You have lesser red tape and people who what to satisfy their own personal agendas and egos instead of doing whats best for the entire community, to go through. Well, if Turanchik, would still like to do a project like this, we have plenty of run down inner city neighborhoods in Jax.

I am literally sick to my stomach!:puke: I can't believe the county commissioners. They have got some Balls(I thick Storms Physically has BALLS). This would have made Tampa so much nicer in the cities' core. We would have actually had an Urban nieghborhood.
This wouldn't have affected these idiots in any way. It's just a pissing match between the city and the County.:bash:

Does anyone know why we can't go forward with out the counties approval. I am asking because I really don't know.

Shit, I wish there was someway the city could sue the county for interferring with our own destiny, especially in a way that the city feels would have greatly improved the cities livability.:wtf:

One, two, three, four,
We don't need counties anymore!
Five, six, seven, eight,
Who wants to consolidate?
:D

^^LOL!! :rofl:

You guys worry too much - you're not old enough to remember all the other ideas that have come and gone. IF they brought all that money just to hold up the government on 1 months notice, they were idiots. I don't think they were - there is a lot of posturing going on. This will be back, in some form - and when all the other stuff is built - it will be ok.

Hey, I've been around long enough to see PLENTY of good things go sour around here simply because of absolutely moronic behavior on the part leadership. From what I can tell, it appears that history is destined to keep repeating itself until we get rid of total fucktards like Ronda Storms and Jim Norman (just examples. there are many others)...

Fear not my friends - there is other good news in the works. Not this plan, but other things that will raise your spirits and lead the way. More will follow.

Quit trying to cheer me up. I'm having fun being melodramatic and alarmist.

:) :D

I will tell you, I just spoke to someone who revealed more than was previously revealed. The projects are coming out of the woodwork. I cannot say more at the moment, but believe me, there is still cause for raucus celebration.

Two nice little infill jobs in Pinellas:
City's approval for hotel expected
A Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel is proposed for the former site of the Police Department on East Bay Drive.
By SHANNON TAN
Published January 20, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


LARGO - Attending an event in Largo and need a place to stay?

There's the beaches or hotels along U.S. 19. And soon, downtown will be an option.

A developer is moving forward with plans to build a 50,000-square-foot, five-story Hampton Inn & Suites Hotel on East Bay Drive, across from Largo Central Park.

The city plans to sell the 3-acre site, former home to the Police Department, to Baystar Hotel Group, a hotel development and management company in Tampa, for $800,000. The property has been appraised for $1.3-million.

As part of the agreement, the city will waive sewer connection, tree replacement and administrative fees. Those incentives are estimated at $130,880.

Construction of the 85-room hotel is expected to begin in April. The hotel should open in February 2005.

City commissioners are expected to approve Baystar's hotel concept plan at today's meeting.

"It's a nice centennial for the city to actually have a hotel with a Largo address," said Mayor Bob Jackson.

Hotel amenities include 2,000 square feet of meeting space, a heated pool and an exercise facility. There will be 99 to 105 parking spaces.

Commissioner Pat Burke said she would like the parking spaces in front of the hotel to be moved to the back.

"This is right across from our city park," Burke said. "To me, it is vital that you move the parking away from the front."

Ford B. Smith, president of Baystar Hotel Group, said he could add more greenery to hide the parking lot.

Commissioner Harriet Crozier said she preferred palms over oak trees.

Her explanation: Tree-loving City Hall regular Mark Klutho would call them "stupid" if the oak trees were planted too close to the sidewalk.

For years, Klutho has spoken at public meetings throughout the county against landscaping that has offended him.

"The objective is to avoid being called a moron and malfeasance on trees," said City Manager Steven Stanton, tongue-in-cheek.

Smith noted that palms would add a tropical feel to the property.

The former City Hall and Police Department buildings were razed three years ago to make way for commercial and residential development.

Last year, Hyde Park Builders of Tampa paid $1.08-million for the City Hall site and nearly has finished a townhomes complex called West Bay Village. A commercial center featuring a specialty coffee shop, a health club, an ice cream shop and a restaurant is on the way.

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/20/Tampabay/City_s_approval_for_h.shtml

Hospital to grow at new location
A newsletter shows All Children's intends to build a new $270-million facility two blocks from its current campus.
By LISA GREENE, Times Staff Writer
Published January 20, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ST. PETERSBURG - The historic expansion that All Children's Hospital is set to unveil Wednesday will be bigger and far more expensive than hospital officials previously revealed.

All Children's intends to build a new $270-million hospital at Sixth Avenue S and Sixth Street S, two blocks from its current site, according to a weekly newsletter from All Children's, the Tampa Bay area's largest and oldest children's hospital.

In an interview on Jan. 7, hospital president and CEO Gary Carnes would say only that the new expansion would cost at least $50-million.

At that time, Carnes also said All Children's officials would prefer to build an entirely new hospital, but that they still were considering expansion at the current site. In the newsletter, dated Jan. 9, Carnes told employees that the new hospital is definite.

Carnes could not be reached for comment Monday, and other hospital officials declined to discuss details of the plan.

"This is something we want to disclose the details of to the media and the public at large on Wednesday" when the hospital has scheduled a news conference, said Ann Miller, hospital spokeswoman.

The newsletter also says the hospital plans a five-year capital campaign to raise $75-million for the new facility, which will be the largest expansion in All Children's history. The remaining $195-million would come from "a combination of cash reserves, past gifts and a new bond issue."

The new hospital would be eight stories tall and have 240 beds. That's the same number the hospital now is licensed for, but the new hospital rooms will be private and, on average, 80 percent larger than the current ones. The hospital now has 216 beds and already has approval for 24 new neonatal beds.

The new site would include a separate ambulatory care center and parking for 1,000 vehicles.

The new hospital also will mark more cooperation between All Children's and Bayfront Medical Center, which is next door. Bayfront plans to lease space in the new All Children's facility for its maternity ward.

Under the current arrangement, sick babies delivered at Bayfront are transferred to All Children's neonatal unit. That means that recovering mothers have to change hospitals to visit their babies. It would be more convenient for families to have everyone in the same building, hospital officials say.

Officials hope to start construction in early 2005 and open the new hospital in summer 2007.

Bayfront has expansion plans of its own, with a $20-million plan to build 10 new operating rooms across the front of its hospital.

[Last modified January 20, 2004, 01:33:06]
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/20/Southpinellas/Hospital_to_grow_at_n.shtml

And another note - I was diring down Bayshore today and saw that they are doing something (seems like more than simply moving dirt) at teh Alagon site - may be utilities work. In any event, I am sure that will go.

The Bellamy also reports reservations on most of its units - we will see if that translates into contracts.

Onward and upward.

They started doing that work at the Alagon site at least two weeks ago, as that is when I first saw it. Both of the condos going up down on Bayshore are nice.



btw, I'm interested to see what comes of the Ashley Dr proposal that Iorio nixed and promised to replace.

I expect little to actually come from her. I don't think she will block things, but as for producing ideas, I don't see it. She is too busy cleaning up some of the other messes. That's fine by me because the private sector is doing ok.

I think they should leave it as greenspace, and construct a tower over the Poe garage. Better yet, I would like to see the city and county get together and successively redo the library with a tower over it, and then redo the Poe garage with a tower there as well. Both structures are mebarrassments and are prime candidates for redevelopment whenever possible IMO.

Just in case anyone is interested, I came across a few web addresses for a few developments.
Many have floor plans and prices

First one is Grand central at Kennedy
http://www.notthesuburbs.com/

next is Victory lofts in Channelside
http://www.victorylofts.com/indexb.html

One Bayshore
http://www.crescent-resources.com/condos/onebayshore/default.asp

the Art center lofts. I found this interesting. According to their website, they only have 4 units left.
http://www.artcenterlofts.com/

the Meridian . I realy like the appearance of this building
http://www.meridianlofts.com/

Some updates
Neighborhood notebook
Buyers reserve 36 of 37 luxury Bayshore condos
By Times Staff Writers
Published January 23, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BAYSHORE BEAUTIFUL - Buyers reserved 36 of the 37 residences recently offered at the Bellamy on Bayshore condominium development on Bayshore Boulevard between Knights and Wallcraft avenues.

The remaining 27 units will be available for reservation in the next few weeks, said Steve McAuliffe, vice president of sales and marketing for JMC Communities, which is building the tower.

The 21-story building will offer private elevator entries into each residence and views of the Hillsborough Bay. The 2,400- to 3,200-square-foot units range from the mid $600,000s to more than $1-million.

Groundbreaking is expected in the next few months and completion is scheduled for late 2005.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/23/Citytimes/Buyers_reserve_36_of_.shtml

Tampa officials rezone land for Bern's plan
By Times Staff Writer
Published January 23, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TAMPA - The City Council voted unanimously to rezone a parking lot Thursday night for an 86-room boutique hotel that would expand the legacy of famed Bern's Steak House.

David Laxer, son of Bern's founder, Bern Laxer, wants to build a restaurant, townhouses, a wine shop, spa and parking garage along S Howard Avenue. The project would sit across the street from Bern's, on a piece of land now used as a parking lot.

During a Jan. 8 City Council meeting, council members and the Architectural Review Commission asked Bern's developers to consider several changes, and they have agreed to some revisions.

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/01/23/Hillsborough/Tampa_officials_rezon.shtml

This seems to imply the building is under construction, like I previously reported, but it is not as clear as one would like. If they haven't started yet, they surely will soon or they wouldn't be messign with this stuff.

Neighbors Meet With Developer About Tower
By MICHAEL H. SAMUELS msamuels@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 24, 2004





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BAYSHORE BEAUTIFUL - It was supposed to be a meet-and- greet session between neighbors and the developer of a 23- story tower being built on Bayshore Boulevard.
It turned into an all-out discussion about neighborhood traffic, garbage, water, construction and crime.

For the first time, officials building The Alagon on Bayshore, just north of Waverly Avenue, met with the neighbors living next to the property to discuss the plans and hear concerns.

Among the biggest concerns of neighbors was the impact the 47-unit tower and three town houses will have on traffic on Waverly Avenue.

The entrance and exit to the property is along Waverly, meaning at least 100 cars will be traveling down that narrow South Tampa street each day, not to mention visitors who will need to wait at the guard station and possibly back up onto Waverly Avenue toward Bayshore before being allowed inside.

``That intersection is dangerous at best,'' neighbor Carolyn Heller said. ``There is no visibility. You can't see. You have to pull out right on to Bayshore.''

Paul Clark, whose house at 2902 Waverly Ave. is across the street from the proposed entrance and exit to the Alagon, said the problem is that Waverly is a narrow street with no sidewalks that many pedestrians, in-line skaters and bicyclists use to access Bayshore.

``If you widen the Waverly entrance to the condominium, you will solve a great percentage of all the problems we have with the project,'' Clark said.

Developer Craig McLaughlin with Southeast Communities, which is building The Alagon, said the city already has approved the site plan, but he agreed to take the neighbors' concerns to civil engineers to be examined.

``Even if it's only 5 feet, that makes a difference,'' McLaughlin said. ``We are willing to look at this and see what we can do. This won't be the first and only meeting we have.''

Other neighborhood concerns focused on the visibility of the tower's trash bin and traffic and crime caused by the construction. It is expected to take between 22 and 24 months for the project to be completed, McLaughlin said.

The worst part, he said, would be the first 12 to 18 months while the exterior of the tower is being built.

``We want to be good neighbors,'' McLaughlin said. ``It has to fit in with the community.''


Reporter Michael H. Samuels can be reached at (813) 835-2109.

http://tampatrib.com/News/MGAL2Y0XSPD.html

Parkside of One Bayshore


http://www.crescent-resources.com/condos/onebayshore/images/rendering.jpg

How big is Crescent Resources in Florida?

I don't know about all of Florida but they are bigtime in Tampa.

I kinda get a kick out of what the Bayshore NIMBYS said about the Alagon's projected traffic. If the road is expected to see about 100 new car trips a day, and this seems to be too much for the road to handle, then how in the hell does the road even function at all now?

Even if all of those trips were made in a 1 hour rush in the morning and another 1 hour rush at night, that still isn't even one car per minute. Exactly how rundown and poorly designed is this road, and why is it still open to vehicular traffic if it is in such bad shape?

I guess that they will have to either rebuild and widen the road, or close the road and condemn all of the houses along it... :D :D

Good news today...


I did a good bit of driving around today, staking out where I'm going to take pictures from tomorrow. (I've got the day off and it should be a very clear day) While I was driving around town, I noted several things...



The Alagon is unquestionably under construction. Site work is in full swing, and the contractor's portable office is on site now. They were really digging and drilling away today.


Sitework also appears eminent at the Bellamy site, as they have put up the fencing, marked off trees and are preparing to start pushing dirt in earnest. From what I gather, the Bellamy has very few units it needs to sell before construction will be triggered.


The condo at One Bayshore is up to the 5th floor.


The Parkcrest Apartments on Harbour Island are working on the final floor. It should be topped out within 2-3 weeks IMO.


Construction is well under way at Victory Lofts, with the new building up to the 2nd floor, and the renovated building well under way.



And most importantly (imo), the city has been working on the Meridian St corridor for a few weeks now. They're currently in the process of ripping up the railroad tracks. Hopefully they will work quickly to reconnect the core dt grid, with the channelside grid by building new roads and sidewalks.



btw...If the city had any smarts, they would sieze this opportunity to rework things a bit, and build a diagonally running boulevard from near the aquarium, all the way up into the DT core as far as they can get. Perhaps up to the Whiting and Jefferson area. Run the trolley up that sucker to Whiting, and then up Marion St a few blocks. Have it loop over to Franklin, and then all they way down to the terminus at the CC. Within 5-10 years, doing this would trigger so much development, and add so many riders to the trolley system that it would transform DT. Things down there would finally be linked in a such a way as to make development logical and in demand. As it is now, developers still look at DT in terms of little tiny niches. Get these areas linked together as seamlessly as possible and development will undoubtedly follow. The whole DT area needs efficient transportation, and we just don't have it now.

And most importantly (imo), the city has been working on the Meridian St corridor for a few weeks now. They're currently in the process of ripping up the railroad tracks.

Interesting, are you sure they're ripping up all of the tracks or just the abandoned railyard portion? I ask, because a while ago there was an article pretty much saying they couldn't completely get rid of all the railroad tracks unless they bought that flour mill that they still serve. Is the mill still in operation?

Hopefully they will work quickly to reconnect the core dt grid, with the channelside grid by building new roads and sidewalks.

Did the streets ever connect? The tracks have been there since the turn of the century. I agree that the city should attempt to connect the grid or else Meridian will become a six lane speedway. Connecting those streets would also spur development on all of those surface parking lots surrounding the Lee Roy Selmon.

I think that they are only ripping up two of the three tracks, or one of the three. I just saw stacks of track and ties. Also, the mill is still running SFAIK. To me, closing the mill, connecting the street grid and expanding the trolley are the keys to really get DT cranking.

Something I noticed is that Twiggs runs all the way from Channelside Dr into the core. I don't remember if it did that before or not.

I noticed on several other sites around the area that buildings have been demolished and sites have been fenced off. Tampa is starting to finally show signs of the long anticipated construction boom, which was expected to follow its flurry of proposals.

Twiggs always did that, just no one had a reason to drive it.

I beleive some of the streets were connected at one point, but I am not sure. The railroad trakcs have been a major question. I know the mill is still working now - but I am not sure if it is getting bought out. The Expressway Authority video for Meridian has no signs of a mill or tracks, but we shall see. It is possible that the last tracks and the mIll are in the landscape area so they decided to let them be while they do the road. It is unclear to me. I will look for an answer.

As for the fencing - the fenced are on Jackson is the school (3 stories)

They are doing some sitework on Twiggs but I have been unable to get any real news on Seaport Town Center - though it is a pretty major development, if it goes.

The demoed teh Meridian lot - which will be more than the MEridian when completed - but I am still nto clear on ground breaking.

They have demoed the 1000 Channelside lot and I though that was going to be underway soon.

The oddest thing though is if you drive down 12tg and realize how narrow the road is and how tall and close to the road some of the buildings will be and think of Ms. Markham's blather about artist colonies. That place is goin to be very different very fast.

Plans for the Tampa Pinnacle is back...and this time, itlooks like it's really going to happen! Developer Frank DeBose, who has been talking up plans for a space needle-like tower in downtown Tampa since the 90s, is teaming up with fellow developer Ken Morin for a $350 million mixed-use project that will feature the 624-foot-high tower, office space, retail space, restaurants, and two 37 story condo towers. Rezoning is in the works. Morin say's financing is in place, and construction is slated to begin by the end of the year. That means the Pinnacle and one of the condo towers could be ready for business by Christmas of 2006.

Here are some renderings of the project. Look for the complete story in the Tampa Tribune tomorrow or check out TBO.com for more details...

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2004/jan/pinnacle1.jpg

http://media.tbo.com/photos/sports/2004/jan/pinnacle2.jpg

I don't know if I'm the only one that feels this way but outside of seattle and toronto, space needles are tacky and I hope that thing doesn't get built.

I agree, expecially since it is not too tall - should be much taller if built, but whatever - it's not my money or land.

An excellent find, by the way. You must be commended.

:cheers:

I don't even like the Seattle or Toronto ones, not from a stylistic point of view. I do think they're way cool, I just wouldn't want one in my town. This one looks more like an air traffic control tower.


Where in downtown are they planning this thing?

I think that it should be the tallest "building" in the state, or why bother with this type of structure in the first place? People aren't going to flock to this building by the thousands to see Tampa's views. It better be a landmark unto itself, or it will flop.


But like most everything else going on, I'm glad to hear about it, and hope it gets built however they feel like doing it.

Originally posted by Jasonhouse

Oh, another thing. I'm very dissapointed not to see these structures take on a much more modernistic style in context with the Port Authority HQ next door. Tampa needs a little architectural variety and innovation. (again, this leads back to making this project a real landmark, or it will flop)





lastly... Do you people realize what this project will do for the trolley if it actually gets built and occupied?

Pinnacle Place To Alter Tampa Skyline

By DAVE SIMANOFF dsimanoff@tampatrib.com
Published: Feb 6, 2004


TAMPA - The Pinnacle of Tampa Bay, a 624-foot space needle and entertainment complex first proposed in the 1990s, is expected to rise soon downtown as part of a $350 million residential, retail, office and hotel complex called Pinnacle Place.
Frank DeBose, president of Tampa-based Pinnacle Group Holdings, said Thursday that construction on the project likely will begin by the end of the year and that the first buildings - including the tower - should be ready for business by the end of 2006.

The complex will be on Channelside Drive west of Meridian Avenue.

Christine Burdick, president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, called Pinnacle Place ``a good addition to the mix'' for housing and amenities downtown.

``A fair piece of downtown that is now not necessarily productive is going to be animated and is going to bring in new people,'' she said.

The tower will add ``yet another piece of distinction'' to the downtown skyline, she said.

The proposed development could add to the city's goal of rejuvenating downtown with new homes and ``destination retail,'' said Mark Huey, Tampa's economic development director.

``It would contribute to Channelside's development as an active, exciting neighborhood to live in,'' Huey said.

The tower project didn't move forward when proposed years ago because the Channel District had not been established as a residential center. Other attractions such as the aquarium, arena and conference center hotel didn't exist, either.

``We could never have pulled off this tower without all of these other things occurring,''DeBose said.

DeBose noted that Tampa's downtown, like many across the country, is gaining momentum again as a place where people want to live.

``There's much deeper demand for residential units than historically we've seen downtown,'' he said. ``This is a different market than it was a few years ago.''

As proposed, Pinnacle Place would include:

* The Pinnacle of Tampa Bay: A 624-foot tower, which will feature an observation deck, revolving restaurant and meeting space. An entertainment center and 4,000-seat amphitheater will sit at the base of the tower.

* Retail space: About 70,000 square feet will be for shops and restaurants along Caesar Street, which runs through the middle of the development.

* Office space and hotel: A four-star, 400-room hotel and about 150,000 square feet of office space.

* Residential space: The site would have 400 condominium units. Two 37-story towers would contain a total of 330 units, and the remaining units would be built above the retail space. Units on upper levels would have water views. Prices have not been set.

* Parking: Parking decks for residents will be built beneath the condominium towers; another parking deck will provide spaces for visitors.

Two development groups are working on Pinnacle Place. Pinnacle Group Holdings, DeBose's company, will develop the tower, and Pinnacle Place Partners, a joint venture headed by DeBose and Tampa developer Ken Morin, will be responsible for the remaining condominium, retail, office and hotel components.

Morin is developing Suncoast Crossings, a residential community with office and retail space, in Pasco County, as well as Walter's Crossing, a Target-anchored shopping center at the former Walter Industries headquarters site on Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.

Morin said he and DeBose have financing for the new project in place and are scheduled to close on the land for Pinnacle Place before the end of June.

The site is zoned for commercial and residential development, including the tower.

But Morin and DeBose will ask the city to update the zoning to accommodate the condominium towers. The current zoning only allows for 300 residential units in low-rise buildings, DeBose said.

Construction will begin with the Pinnacle tower, one of the condominium buildings, the retail space and parking. The tower and condominium building will take about 24 months to complete, DeBose said.

The Pinnacle project joins two other major condominium projects announced for the area. Developers Michael McGuinness and Richard Sacchi head a group planning twin 30-story towers, with a combined 260 units, at Meridian Avenue and North 12th Street. Clearwater-based Byrd Corp. is also proposing twin 30-story towers, with 150 total units, and businesses on Channelside Drive.

Realtors Question Civitas' Market


By SHANNON BEHNKEN sbehnken@tampatrib.com
Published: Feb 8, 2004




TAMPA - From government meetings to lunch spots and cocktail parties, people have spent weeks talking about whether a development company can turn Tampa's Central Park area into a vibrant neighborhood where the city's rich and poor live together.
Many haven't talked about a question posed by real estate agents and public planners, though: If Civitas builds it, who will come?

``A lot of people have wonderful ideas, but is there a need in Tampa for this type of housing, and is our downtown ready to support this?'' asked Alma Alexander, president of the Greater Tampa Board of Realtors.

``There are so many alternatives in place that already offer what a wealthy client is looking for,'' she said - and they typically include a waterfront view. ``I don't know that the person looking at Harbour Island and Bayshore would consider hopping over to this new area.''

Kristi Bonsack, who has lived in the 345 Bayshore condominium tower since August, is the type of person who might live in such a place.

Bonsack liked the sound of the Civitas plan when the company aired it in December, but she wondered whether the residential portion should be built before other components.

``You may bring people in,'' she said, ``but what is here for them? We need grocery stores, restaurants, parks, jazz clubs.''

Bonsack, who runs a business out of her home, also said she chose her condo largely because of its 24-hour security, and she doubts she would feel safe in Civitas' Central Park.

Publicly, government planners have said little about Civitas. Several describe the company's proposal as so politically charged that they don't feel comfortable candidly critiquing it.

But Rob Turner, Hillsborough County property appraiser, questioned why a feasibility study wasn't presented to the government leaders who were asked to sign off on the project.

``Generally, people would like to see this succeed, if it will work,'' Turner said. ``But the fact of the matter is [Civitas] hasn't developed the plan far enough.

``If they weren't asking for public money, we'd probably be giving them the keys to the city. But until you have more quantifiable data, the public risk factor is pretty high.''

Mark Huey, Tampa economic development director, said Mayor Pam Iorio's administration would take every precaution to protect taxpayers. No public money would be used unless property values would rise around the Civitas development.

But Huey said feasibility studies weren't possible because historic market data is needed to predict whether projects can work - and Tampa has nothing to study that is like what Civitas proposed.

The plan, on hold at this point, called for redeveloping 157 acres between downtown and Ybor City. Public housing would be intertwined with $125,000 lofts, $600,000 town homes, and scattered shops and restaurants.

Other residents of current public housing in the area would be dispersed to homes on lots purchased by Civitas in east Tampa, West Tampa and Tampa Heights.

The plan, led by former county Commissioner Ed Turanchik, derailed last month when county and city leaders couldn't agree on special taxing districts to pour $80 million into Central Park roads and other infrastructure.


Investors Keep Pushing

Time worked against Civitas, which made its plan public Dec. 4 and tried to get local officials onboard before a Jan. 20 deadline for a $20 million federal grant.

The Tampa Housing Authority had planned to apply for the grant before Civitas asked to join forces and swap land. Civitas executives said their plan wouldn't work without the authority's 28 Central Park acres.

The housing agency wound up applying alone for the grant, and officials could learn as early as next month whether the federal money will come to Tampa. If it doesn't, the agency and the company have expressed interest in trying to team up again.

Civitas investors, who have acquired land quietly for two years, vow they're not giving up.

Don Wallace, the investor team leader, said last week he doesn't ``have any doubt in the world'' that the proposed homes would sell.

Wallace said he used to live on Harbour Island and moved to Bayshore Boulevard because he didn't like being in a gated community. He said he likes the diversity of the neighborhood beside and behind his waterfront mansion.

``You find million-dollar homes and homes that aren't worth $100,000,'' he said. ``You don't care about who lives next to you. You just want your neighborhood to look nice.''


The Area's Upper Limits

Since 2000, at least 1,296 homes valued at $500,000 or more have sold in Hillsborough County, property records show. Of those, 549 sold in 2003, up from 360 in 2002.

South Tampa claimed 45 percent of those homes. Others are clustered in developments such as Cheval and Avila. The rest are scattered across the county.

Tony Polito, local director for Metrostudy, a housing research firm, said more homes than ever with values of at least $300,000 are selling in the Tampa Bay area - more than 1,220 in 2003.

Still, the majority of sales range from $150,000 to $190,000, Polito said.

The Civitas development would have to compete against 12 condo projects either open or planned for the Channel District, three elsewhere downtown and a half-dozen along Bayshore.

Realtor Marie Preston, handling sales for the new Channelside Loft 212, said there is tremendous interest in the 12th Street development, the first to open among the projects planned for Channelside.

But most buyers want to spend about $200,000, Preston said, and it takes longer to sell the project's most expensive units, around $400,000. That makes her wonder whether Tampa is ready for those $600,000 Civitas town homes.


Mixed Views On Market

Kim Markham moved to the Channel District 10 years ago, when it was much cheaper and less trendy. Mostly artists lived in the old warehouse district then, she said, but it remains mixed-income despite its increased popularity.

Realtor Dallas Coffield said he thinks Tampa is ready for a mixed-income plan like the one envisioned by Civitas.

``People are looking at living off of Nebraska [Avenue] the way it looks now,'' he said. ``You have to change the way you look at the area because the area is going to change.''

But Realtor Toni Everett, who specializes in high-end condos, said Civitas' success depends on the design and what else is built downtown.

Just last week, developers proposed Pinnacle Place, a $350 million residential and retail project capped by a 624- foot ``space needle'' and entertainment complex.

Developers need to communicate about what they're building, Everett warned, or the market will be saturated.

``If all of these developers build the same kinds of complexes,'' she said, ``the market certainly isn't deep enough.''

What about the people looking for deals in the $100,000 range? I think there's a huge potential market that can cater to people who can't afford $600,000 townhomes there. There's a big difference between the "poor" working class, like myself, and people living off the government.

I agree with you Lakelander. The ideal downtown is a diverse urban community with people of all backgrounds and incomes. One element that would vastly improve any downtown is the ability to attract the Young Professional. And I'm not talking about the top 2% of young professionals who can afford those 3 and 400k lofts and condos. A successful downtown has housing for the 100k young professional and those not wishing to buy just yet. Those are the folks who will be out at the clubs, spending their money on trendy clothes, taking their dates to cool restaurants.

I just don't understand this idea of a 600 sq ft. loft in Tampa selling for 250k, and the target is the "young professional". Give me a darn break!

^Personally, I don't know what the problem is, but who ever finally decides to market urban housing in the average young professional's price range is bound to make a lot of money pretty quickly.

'raises hand'

I would suspect there are a number of factors - cost of land and construction, size of unites, parking costs (moer units, more parking), etc. that mitigate against smaller, cheaper units. On the other hand, there should be rental stuff - like Seaport Town Centre - when it ever starts that would work for the middle market. Eventually, there will be some stuff, but I think the first guys want to cash in quickly.

also, there are things in Tampa Heights than are in that range. Moreover civitas was going to have a mix - but, we'll have to wait.

I saw something really odd yesterday - I was passing by that 6 story office building on Bay to Bay near Bayshore and there was a sign up with a rendering of what appeared to be an 8-10 story office building. I did not get a name nor could I figure if they are planning to tear down the old building. I will try to get info later. I just though it was odd.

Will Downtown Building Boom Spur Buying Spree?


By DAVE SIMANOFF dsimanoff@tampatrib.com
Published: Feb 12, 2004


TAMPA - The red-hot housing market and a growing interest in urban living have lured three condominium developers - and, potentially, more than half a billion dollars of new construction - to the Channelside district in downtown Tampa.
With nearly a thousand condominium units on the drawing board and all three projects slated to open about the same time, it remains to be seen if the same trends that brought developers to Channelside will attract buyers.

Since August, developers have laid out plans for three major residential and commercial complexes, each containing a pair of mixed-use projects, on or near Channelside Drive. The three proposals, combined, would include 960 condominium units.

The projects are:

* Downtown Channelside, a $92 million, 300-unit residential and retail complex, which would sit next to Channelside retail complex on the south side of Channelside Drive. A Kash n' Karry supermarket would anchor the retail component of the project.

* Pinnacle Place, a $350 million complex with 400 residential units along with businesses, restaurants, a hotel and a 624-foot tower called the Pinnacle of Tampa Bay.

* The Towers of Channelside, a $93 million, 260-unit project on North 12th Street just north of Channelside Drive.

John McIlwain, senior fellow for housing at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C., said the situation in downtown Tampa already has been played out in other U.S. cities.

He said the three developers here certainly will face competition, but that growing demand from two large demographic groups, baby boomers and their children, could be in the developers' favor and produce enough buyers to sell out all three condominium projects.

In cities such as Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Orlando, aging baby boomers have been trading their suburban homes for city condominiums once their children have left, McIlwain said. These ``empty nesters'' are typically in their mid- 50s and seem eager to escape commutes to work and the responsibility of maintaining a lawn.

The number of baby boomers looking to move downtown is expected to grow over the next 10 years, he said.

Boomers' children, who are now graduating from college, typically look to live in urban environments, McIlwain said.

``Young professionals very much like being in cities,'' he said. ``They're not ready to go to the suburbs. They don't want to go to the suburbs.''

Construction hasn't started yet on the condominium buildings, and prices for units at Pinnacle Place haven't been set. Towers of Channelside units are expected to sell for $275,000 to $375,000, and Downtown Channelside price tags are expected to start at $300,000.

If all three developers go ahead with their plans, the three complexes could be under construction by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, so the first buildings could be ready for tenants in 2005 or 2006.

Those projects also would compete for buyers with two condominium projects already under construction in the city. Both are on Bayshore Boulevard: Crescent Resources' Parkside at One Bayshore will have 107 units, and JMC Communities' Bellamy will have 75 units.

Tampa real estate agent Toni Everett, whose firm is handling sales for Pinnacle Place, said there should be more than enough demand for all three of the Channelside area condominiums.

She said there's little land left along Bayshore Boulevard for new condominium projects, and that she believes buyers in the Tampa Bay area want to return downtown.

Frank DeBose, one of the developers behind Pinnacle Place, said he isn't worried about sales competition from the other projects. He said he thinks the three condominium projects will build more excitement for the area than one project would. That buzz should translate into more buyers for all three developments, he said.

``There's competition, yeah, but the competition is bringing more demand,'' he said.

Certainly an optimistic article commented in by folks with a vested interest in seeing these projects get built.

I generally agree that there is plenty of demand to fill these towers, but like others, I think too many developers are going for the same price point. Someone needs to come out with some simpler projects with fewer luxury amenities, and a lower price point. Not like riduculously low, but at least offer some decent sized 2br units for ~$200k.

Two points - first I have seen no sign of construction actiivty at the Embassy Suites site, though the number of cars on that lot have decreased significantly. I suspect it will start in early April or so, though we could contact the Trib folks and see if they know.

The second is this - I still think it is a waste of the lot - a prime waterfront lot - but I guess Iorio is determined to make downtown even more bizarre and reduce tax revenue further.

LATEST NEWS
11:40 AM EST Thursday
History Center developing downtown
Aja Whitaker
The Tampa Bay History Center gets one step closer to becoming a reality Feb. 26.

The Florida Communities Trust Florida Forever fund will present the City of Tampa with a $6.3 million grant check to purchase a third parcel of land in 6-acre Fort Brooke Park.

Mayor Pam Iorio announced recently the park property will be the location for the planned $17 million history center which will be a county-owned building on city land, much like the John F. Germany Library.

The building project will be funded primarily through Hillsborough County Community Investment Tax funds that are used to build one-time expenditure infrastructure and improvements.

The not-for-profit center is busy trying to hold up its end of the financial bargain and raise $11 million in private money for an operating endowment to underwrite the cost of operations.

It has raised more than $11 million with at least $2 million from state matching grants. The center still needs to raise $2 million in private funds.

The 32,000-square-foot building and support space is less than 10 percent of the park and will be located at the intersection of Ice Palace Drive and the East Bridge to Harbour Island.

The center will house three floors, two of which will contain exhibit halls to create an "immersive" experience, said Rob Blount, center president and CEO.

"The visitors will not be standing outside looking in, but they will be in the exhibits and have a historical experience," Blount said.

The museum has already acquired 28,000 historical objects from the Tampa Bay area that represent 12,000 years of human habitation, he said.

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2004/02/09/daily28.html?f=et83

^I agree with you. IMO, the history center should look to renovate one of the vacant "historic" buildings along or near North Franklin Street for their new musuem.

I thought that they should have taken the ground floor (or more) in the old Federal Courthouse building. Either that, or take some space along north Franklin (or even build there).

Putting the museum in that park has a "Disney" kind of phony vibe to it. Plus, it is an IMMENSE waste of a tremendously valuable piece of property. Lots are dissapearing quickly along Garrison Channel, and I think time will prove this to be a mistake.

I have no idea what Iorio is thinking unless she does not want the water walled off- which I can accept - but she should say it so the lots one block off sell quickly.

Then this little story - the evolution of Howard:
Photos sell council on project
The developers' photos, combined with drawings, indicate the project by Bern's founder's son won't overwhelm its Howard Avenue neighborhood.
By DAVID KARP, Times Staff Writer
Published February 13, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TAMPA - Developers of a hotel and restaurant on Howard Avenue tried Thursday to show residents what their project would look like.

By taking pictures from nearby homes, they created images that depicted how their complex blended into the neighborhood.

From the developer's photos at least, you could hardly see the project. The 45-foot parking garage was largely overshadowed by trees. The nearby Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway blocked out the 70-foot tower, which was off in the distance.

City Council members, at least, were satisfied with what they saw. They voted unanimously Thursday to approve the project proposed by David Laxer, son of the founder of the famed Bern's Steak House.

The council must still hold more public hearings,and the Architecture Review Commission will scrutinize the project too.

The complex will include a 86-room boutique hotel, a restaurant, wine shop, townhomes, and a parking garage.

Residents from New Suburb Beautiful, who saw the same pictures, didn't view it the same way.

A week ago, they brought in their own images, which showed the project overwhelming their homes. The council delayed voting, and asked developers to bring in professionally done images.

The residents in New Suburb Beautiful, on the east side of the expressway, fear the proposal will create more noise and light for their homes. Developers promised it wouldn't, and created the images to prove the point.

Some residents weren't buying it. They said they only received the pictures Wednesday, shortly before the council vote.

The information is "14 hours old," resident Chris Butler said. "It flew in last night."

Residents vowed to continue a fight.

[Last modified February 13, 2004, 01:45:34]
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/02/13/Hillsborough/Photos_sell_council_o.shtml

btw, I think every person who belongs to an organization with a vapid name like "Bayshore Beautiful" or "New Suburb Beautiful" should be shot in the head and dragged through the streets.

"New Suburb Beautiful"???? WTF? Hyde Park isn't a suburb you morons. It's an URBAN AND HISTORIC INNER CITY NEIGHBORHOOD!!!

:bash:






Personally, I'm glad this got approved, but HIGHLY dissapointed that the council buckled and shot down the proposal for an only slightly larger but similar hotel project last year.

The simple truth is that if Tampa has any hopes of continuing to grow and improve, that some of this low-rise density is NEEDED, and cannot be avoided. Otherwise, property values will continue to rise artifically high (due to pent up demand that the government will not allow market forces to naturally satisfy), and everyone but the yuppies will be priced out.

I agree the names are sound stupid, but actually, they are the names ofthe platted neighborhood back from the 1920's. Sandy friedman dredged them up in her Neighborhood campaing (hence all the signs around town). In the 19020, those places were suburbs (Hyde Park is a platted development too) You can go see the maps at the library (usedto be TPL) but they may be at USF these days. I have copies

Allow me to alter my statement above... Sandy Freedman should also be shot in the head, and her body dragged through the streets. lol :)

Wow my last entry really demonstrated my keen typing prowess.

A rather long but interesting article about Carillon....


A bellwether neighborhood


The huge Carillon office park in St. Petersburg is becoming an unusual residential community, one with all the conveniences but no single-family homes.

By JUDY STARK, Times Staff Writer
Published February 14, 2004

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ST. PETERSBURG - The Publix is the tipoff.

When a major grocery store opens in an office park, it's a clue that it expects to sell more than bottled water and sub sandwiches to a lunchtime crowd.

Occupants of the 50,000 cars that whiz by each day on Ulmerton Road may regard the Carillon office park as just that: home to some 30 major businesses, including Raymond James Financial, Franklin Templeton, Catalina Marketing, PSCU Financial Services and, soon, Bright House Networks. Construction is expected to start in a few months on a Hilton hotel.

But it's also rapidly becoming a mixed-use neighborhood within the city limits of St. Petersburg that eventually may have as many as 2,000 residences. In St. Petersburg, a city of mostly older neighborhoods where the only new construction is infill housing or waterfront condos, that's a switch.

Here's another switch. Those homes will all be multifamily: the apartments that already exist, two townhome communities that opened models recently, a luxury condo with retail and restaurants on the ground floor, currently selling out of a sales trailer. No single-family homes are planned.

Several more condominium projects are to be built "above the store": over retail on the ground floor that developers say could more closely resemble Old Hyde Park Village in Tampa than the strip plazas that line Ulmerton Road.

"You can walk to work and dinner, all the conveniences are right there," said Jim White, who developed the Publix and the AmSouth Bank properties, and is developing the luxury condos, called 180 Carillon.

The jobs are already there. Now, developers say, it's time for the rooftops and the wallets to move in.

Years in the making

Tucked in a 432-acre U-shaped parcel bordered by Ulmerton Road, Roosevelt Boulevard and Interstate 275, the Carillon office park, under development for 20 years, offers access to Interstate 275, the Howard Frankland Bridge and Tampa International Airport. It's 15 or 20 minutes to downtown Tampa and the beaches, 15 minutes to downtown St. Petersburg.

"People don't realize it's been that long in the development," said Dave Goodwin, the city's assistant director for development services. "Initially it was just an office park, a 9-to-5 kind of deal, and deserted after that."

In 1995 the developer, Echelon, introduced upscale multifamily rental housing, 314 units at the Promenade, and in 1998, another 338 units at Echelon at the Reserve. "They've been very, very successful," said Julio Maggi, vice president of development for Echelon, with rents in excess of $1 per foot per month, among the highest in the area. That is about $800 to $1,600 a month.

As the office park thrived, Maggi said, executives "lamented the lack of housing. They were bringing in substantial workforces who had to drive in from other places. They told us, "If we're going to continue to grow our business and prosper and stay here and ply our trade, we need housing stock at various levels, from worker-bee housing to executive level.' "

The idea of for-sale housing was on Echelon's mind, but for later, said Mark Stroud, president and chief executive officer of Echelon Real Estate Services. But "we listened to the demand that we support the workforce; that was the genesis," and parcels that had originally been slated for rental housing were reallocated to for-sale housing.

The projects so far:

Saxony Place at Carillon

60 townhomes ranging from 2,942 square feet to 4,610 square feet, and starting at $438,000. These are the executive homes that are selling to working professionals, many of them road warriors who like the quick access to the airport. They offer oak staircases, two wood-burning fireplaces, granite counter tops, KitchenAid appliances and balconies.

The Villas of Carillon

178 townhomes with three bedrooms and 21/2 baths that start at $284,900. These Spanish-style villas have balconies and covered porches. There will be a community pool and clubhouse.

180 Carillon

A nine-story, 70-unit luxury condominium complex on which construction is expected to start next month, with completion expected in 14 months. Interested buyers so far have included a doctor who will work in the adjacent St. Anthony's Wellness Center and businesses based in Carillon that want corporate apartments, developer White said. Above 19,000 square feet of retail and two levels of parking for residents, these luxury condos will offer dramatic views, high ceilings, lots of glass, wood floors, 10-foot ceilings and rooftop terraces for the two-story penthouse units. Price range: from the $300,000s to $1-million.

Still in planning, Stroud and Maggi said, are a building that will combine retail, office condos and loft-style residential condos, in a "very industrial" look; and another mixed-use project that will offer smaller units at a lower price. "We'll offer a good cross-section of units," Maggi said. All these residential projects are within strolling, biking or inline skating distance of the 20-acre Carillon town center, now the home of Publix and AmSouth Bank. Other retail is expected to join them: Delis, restaurants and office services will come first to meet the demands of the 11,000 office workers who already are there; and gradually, "hair salons, a dry cleaner, stuff that traditionally co-tenants with a grocery like Publix," Stroud said.

The "Main Street" is three city blocks long, with a potential 160,000 square feet of retail space, "and we'll see a different kind of retail tenant mix emerge" to satisfy the demands of round-the-clock residents. "It could go more in the direction of Hyde Park than the typical strip mall," he said.

Meeting a market niche

"The big selling point of these mixed-use developments is convenience. People want to live near where they work and avoid living half their life on the interstate. It's got huge appeal," said Chuck Bohl, director of the Knight Program in Community Building at the University of Miami and the author of Place Making: Developing Town Centers, Main Streets and Urban Villages ($69.95), published in 2002 by the Urban Land Institute.

"It's a market completely unmet," he said. "The big single-family house at the end of the cul-de-sac - the entire market doesn't want that." Developers, he said, are starting to meet "really significant market niches, the parts of the population that are growing the greatest": aging baby boomers, singles, couples without children.

The original model of the monoculture office park just swapped one set of problems for another, Bohl said. It strained the entire system as people left their residential communities, jammed the roads, and drove to an office park. That old model, he said, "is becoming completely outdated."

Mixed residential and office communities, Bohl said, "are an attractive lifestyle for a lot of people" who want to avoid "the drudgery of commuting everywhere. If you can't eliminate it for everyone, you can eliminate or shorten the commute for a whole lot of things. If you spend your entire life getting in the car and going somewhere, you ask, "Do I really want to go there?' It's time to rethink this."

John and Sandra Leanes are just the people Bohl is talking about. John, 55, is principal at Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport. Sandra, 48, is principal at Plumb Elementary in Clearwater. They used to live in Island Estates at Clearwater Beach, and John's commute could be as much as an hour and 10 minutes.

They moved to Saxony Place late last year, cutting his commute to just 20 minutes and adding only five to hers. Now he gets an additional half-hour of sleep in the morning and can come home after school before returning for night meetings or activities.

They love the boardwalks and the fitness trails, where they walk or bike on weekends, and the view out their windows into a preserve reminds them of North Carolina. Their first few neighbors include a pilot, a doctor and a Tampa businessman. The Leaneses are already Publix shoppers, "And we can't wait to see what other kinds of stores and businesses go in there," John said.

But just plunking down some apartments or townhouses near an office complex with an adjacent hotel doesn't cut it, Bohl said. "If you're surrounded by big parking lots and it's not walkable and there's no civic use, you can't call it a town center or a main street." Pedestrian orientation is key, he said. "It's not that the car isn't there, but the car is tamed. Parking is in lots that are hidden behind buildings or parking garages."

The walkability is one thing Carillon needs to work on. Sidewalks are intermittent. Goodwin, the city official, said that when Carillon was originally laid out, "There wasn't a lot of pedestrian amenities. We're working with Echelon hoping to see some retrofit of additional sidewalks, bike paths and lanes that will really help facilitate that live-work kind of community."

A boardwalk that circles a lake and offers a fitness training circuit "needs to be connected and linked to the residential areas and the town center areas," Goodwin said. "You need a complete network of different ways to get around besides just driving."

Mass transit needs help too. There is PSTA bus service, but "the actual transit facilities are kind of an afterthought," Goodwin said. A sign for a bus stop is stuck in the grass but there's no shelter, no sidewalk, no bench.

He praised the cobblestones, the landscaping, the modern street lighting. "They've gone to the extra length to make that park really stick out," Goodwin said. The combination of design, amenities and residential offerings provides a unique recruiting tool for employers.

As for the civic aspect, Bohl said, to be a real community, a development like this needs a gathering place, a "location for festivals and events that has some higher significance to the community" so the area is more than just "a place to go shop or work."

"Every community needs a heart, a village-green kind of place," Echelon's Stroud agreed. "That makes it a neighborhood rather than just a place you go to buy groceries and get in your car and go back home again. It becomes the heart of your city." There will be just such a village green along the cobblestoned and landscaped Main Street that Echelon is creating south of the Publix, at a cost of $1-million, he said, "a nice gathering place for those who work in the area."

There is another little park near the carillon, the bell tower that is the community's namesake, ringed by walkways and boardwalks around and over the lake. But no sidewalks or bike lanes lead to it. An adult pushing a stroller or a child on a bike trying to get there from the residential areas or the town center has to walk or ride in the road, dodging cars.

Attracting buyers from within

The Panera Bread Co. on Ulmerton Road opposite Carillon was packed at lunchtime a few days ago with diners wearing corporate name tags, parents with little kids and workers who parked their company trucks outside. Starbucks moved in nearby not long ago, and the road is dotted with restaurants and service businesses in the strip plazas.

Feather Sound real estate, on the north side of Ulmerton Road, has always held its value, developer White said, and he expects the same will be true at Carillon "because of the scarcity of land and product. There's a finite amount that can be built" at Carillon, and buyers "will see safety in their investment," he predicted.

Peter Bennett, president of Samter Homes of Tampa, which is building the Villas at Carillon, said his buyers are single or married professionals without children, or empty nesters. But he has found it hard to attract buyers from within Carillon. "It's hard to contact them," he said. Employers "won't let us in the buildings." His marketing staff wanted to circulate fliers in the office buildings or put fliers on cars in office parking lots to invite workers to an open house and happy hour last month, "but their security guards chased us away," he said. A lot of workers in the office buildings "don't even know we're here."

Although the plans for residential for-sale development have been working their way toward reality for several years now, much of the reality has stayed under the radar for potential buyers until recently. Now, with the opening of models and the start of sales, that's changing.

"Most people are shocked when they drive through," said Stroud, of Echelon. "They just don't know what's up there."

Maggi agreed: "The people who are blown away are those who don't go there. They drive by on their way to Tampa, but they haven't been inside in a couple of years."

What's for sale

Units at two townhome projects and a luxury condo building are for sale at Carillon. Enter the park from Roosevelt or Ulmerton Road and follow the signs. Here are the details:

Saxony Place at Carillon

600 Trinity Lane N; 60 townhomes ranging from 2,942 square feet to 4,610 square feet, and starting at $438,000. Models open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Phone: 727 573-7719. Web site: www.saxonyplace.com

The Villas of Carillon

580 Trinity Lane N; 178 townhomes with three bedrooms and 21/2 baths that start at $284,900. Models are open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Phone: 727 573-1338. Web site: www.villasofcarillon.com

180 Carillon

180 Carillon Parkway, nine-story, 70-unit luxury condominium complex. Price range: from the low $300,000s to $1-million. Single-level flats range from 1,400 to 1,900 square feet; two-story penthouse lofts, with rooftop terraces, have 1,100 to 3,055 square feet of living space. Construction is expected to start at the end of the month. A sales trailer is open weekends from noon to 5 p.m. just south of the Publix. Phone: 727 446-3026. Web site:

Thats great news, now if they could just 'urbanize' Westshore....

They're sort of getting there. The problem with Westsore is that there's too many vacant annd easily redeveloped lots. They're not going to rip up surface lots and build "within" until those open lots are built on.

Besides, Westshore is too built up already for it to ever become much more than a densified and auto dependent district.


(I sure wish the county had a place to put those schools along Cypress. That HUGE tract of land could easily be redeveloped into a walkable town center for the Westshore CBD)

This is good, but this office park with apartmetns is still too disconnected from anything else. It will never connect tot eh city because of the orads around it - which is too bad. They also need to redo the parking at a lot of those office buildings - maybe if the residential really takes off.

Here's the map with the article:

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/02/14/photos/Carillon.gif

Here's another link to the good project:

www.180carillon.com ( )

What they REALLY need to do is build a road across I-275, connecting with 9th St North between Ulmerton and Roosevelt somewhere, somehow. It wouldn't help with walkability, but rather with connectivity. :)

From what I understand, there is a plane to extend the Bayside bridge down to 275 through that area. Not sure the exact details and it will probably take 5-7 years, but they sort of get it.

Actually, it will extend down and meet up with the 118th St Connector, recently built.


On a side note, the north bound flyover is a great place for a "skyline" shot of the Carillon/Feather Sound area.

At least we have the question of the path of the new Meridian and the train tracks answered:


The trib today reported that tehy are leaving one track so I guess the grain elevator stays for now.

Well, that really sucks ass. I was hoping that side would be developed in parts, and left open as a park in others.

A couple of things from teh Channel District Council (a little Marxist sounding, but so be it) - amazingly nothing really annoying this month:

First, about that weird CCX job

Update on: CCX North (210 North 12th Street)

Greetings Neighbors,

A quick update on the progress of CCX North. We are now 60% committed and well on our way to being fully committed. In two weeks we will be able to go to contract on the units thus securing development of the most "Innovative" project in The Channel District.

We are on target to break ground late February or very early March 2004. The anticipated finish date is September of this year. If you have any questions please email me Donald E. Ebbert [donald@firfin.com].

Donald E. Ebbert
First Financial Companies,
International Marketing League, Inc.,
Union Benefit Solutions, Inc. and
First Travel Inc.

442 West Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 312
Tampa, Florida 33606-1495
(813) 253-2007 or (800) 327-3367 FAX (813) 254-0889


Scond, about Grand Central (it will be intersting to see how sales are as most units are under $250,000

Update on: Grand Central at Kennedy

Mercury Advisors will be holding a VIP & Media cocktail reception for the grand opening of the Grand Central at Kennedy sales center on Thursday, March 4 from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at Artists Unlimited. After a brief introduction by Ken Stoltenberg and a city representative, anyone wishing to view the sales center and 2 bedroom condominium model will be escorted across the street. Guests can come and go as they please during this two hour window. Invitations will be distributed the middle of February. In addition, we are having a prospects party on Friday, March 5 from 5:30 until 7:30 at Artists Unlimited. If any of the membership cannot attend on Thursday, but can make it on Friday, I encourage them to RSVP with me and specify the date.

If anyone wishes to receive an invitation, please provide me their contact information. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information. I appreciate your assistance.

Kindest regards,

Michele Plant,
Public Relations Manager

PUSH, Inc.
101 Ernestine St.
Orlando, FL 32801
Phone: 407-841-2299
Fax:: 407-841-0999
Email: mplant@pushhere.com

Is "CCX North" also known as "12th St Townhomes"?

Does someone have that rendering? I know that it was posted before, but now I can't find it.

[QUOTE][SIZE=1]Originally posted by smiley

A couple of things from teh Channel District Council (a little Marxist sounding, but so be it)

If you think that's bad, how about the recent Dade County initiative called the:

"People's Transportation Plan" ? :colgate:

Sounds like something The Rock cooked up...

It is the same thing, I think, but I don't have a rendering. It's the weird pseudo-modern thing. I don't mind, it is across from 212 so it will fit in in the 2 story category.

I was DT today, and there was a whole slew of marketers populating the public square at Franklin and Kennedy. I talk to folks about the Arts Center Lofts, Victory Lofts and The Meridian, but didn't anything that I didn't already know.

The Grand Central project is looking VERY nice (much nicer than I thought). I asked for them to send me additional info, as I have real personal interest in that project.

I also got to see several presentation boards for the Pinnacle Place project, including site renderings, as well as additional elevations.

The exact location of the project is what I thought it was before. It's bordered by Channelside (S), Meridian (E), Finley St (N) and Nebraska (W). Ceasar St bisects the site, dividing the residential portion from the office/hotel/tower portion. Presales are being handled by Toni Everett (who I met today). She's going to mail me all sorts of stuff in about 4 weeks, when the architects release it. It should also be noted that the design of the Pinnacle Tower has changed a bit from what we've been seeing publicly, though the changes are in the details, not the overall look.


Also, there is a small loft conversion project on Tampa St that is almost complete. It is called "512 N Tampa", and is only 2 stories.

Also, I have a brochure for "The Residences On Franklin St". It is 8 stories with 34 units and 72 parking spaces in an integrated parking deck. It is bordered by Franklin (E), Royal St (N), Tampa St (W) and Tyler St (S)... The sales guy said that things have been going very well, and that they expect to break ground by the summer.


Lastly, at the Alagon site, there is now a crane assembling the tower crane's base. I noticed that the site work at The Bellamy stopped once they got everything staked off, so I guess that they are holding off on the actual ground breaking for a few weeks? They must have had a few folks back out when it came time to sign the contracts and cough up some money...

Now I am annoyed. That lazy ass mofo for the Residences still has not sent me the brochure. anyway, I think that was the building I posted the ad for. IF you have a new pic, post it. That is a crucial project.

I am also annoyed because I was downtown earlier today and did not know these people we there or I would have dropped by.

A few notes: I saw that loft project, it is above the Spain. I think it will sell. I am pumped for the Franklin street building. Once you get one, others will follow - that area needs it and there is a good space to fill.

If Toni Everett is selling the Pinnacle deal, they will build it. She has some weird voodoo thing going with condo projects, just like Smith and Assoc. Whatever they promote gets built - I have no idea why.

I knew the Alagon was going. I think the Bellamy might be working out contracts for constuction or some utility crap.

Now we need the Meridian and the embassy Suites to get moving on construction and I think we will be able to say we are having a little downtown boom. We will have to wait about another year to have a full - all out - boom.

Hopefully by Christmas we can have a real mess of party cranes (with christmas lights) like the old days.

I have to say, I am amazed there is a market, but I really think there is a market for most of this stuff. It is like it is feeding on itself. I am pumped, jsut wish I have a few million to waste on a piece of land.

By the way, let me reiterate - post 'em if you got 'em.

As for that ofice building on Bay to Bay, I looked at the sign again and I think it is to be built behind the one that is there already - looks to be 8 stories.

I also saw and ad for the highwoods office buildings on the bay in Westshore - they worked something out with the residents, but I am not sure what.

Also, the Meridian website says on 9 or 35 units remain, which means they are sure to get going soon. There is also no mention of preconstruction priceing, so maybe they have "started" - I know they demoed what was on the lot already.

That will be an ice corner when Victory Lofts and the Meridian are done.

Originally posted by smiley

By the way, let me reiterate - post 'em if you got 'em.

As for that ofice building on Bay to Bay, I looked at the sign again and I think it is to be built behind the one that is there already - looks to be 8 stories.

I also saw and ad for the highwoods office buildings on the bay in Westshore - they worked something out with the residents, but I am not sure what.



I saw the pic of that office building today too (as I drove by in 1st gear :) )... It looks like it behind the existing one to me as well.

The Highwoods deal on the bay.... They didn't agree to anything with the residents, as the residents oppose ANYTHING being built there taller than 2 stories. The developer has simply redesigned the project so that it complies with existing zoning, so now it no longer requires approval of the city council to be built... The funny thing is that now instead of two 7 story buildings, Highwoods will build two 9 story buildings with smaller footprints. I'm not sure how the residents figured that 9 stories was less visually intrusive than 7 stories, but whatever. :?


BTW Smiley, did you hear that Carlton Field's space on Harbour Island has already been snapped up by another law firm? I forget the firm's name (I know they're the 4th largest firm in Tampa), but they are moving from Rocky Point to Harbour Island as of May 1st, 2005.

Originally posted by smiley

Also, the Meridian website says on 9 or 35 units remain, which means they are sure to get going soon. There is also no mention of preconstruction priceing, so maybe they have "started" - I know they demoed what was on the lot already.

That will be an ice corner when Victory Lofts and the Meridian are done.


I forgot... The sales guy said the Meridian will break ground in a few weeks. he said that they had some folks back out at contract time, and so now that they are delayed a little, the site is being used as a staging/assembly area for the Victory Lofts. Basically what he implied is that construction will begin in earnest as soon as Victory Lofts tops out, and it's already up to the 4th (out of 7) floor.

So I would guesstimate that the Meridian will break ground in 5-8 weeks.

Damn! Another question!

Smiley... Where is your scan of the Franklin St project? I want to see if what I have is any different, before I take time to scan this stuff.

Whats being built on the block of pierce,jefferson,washington,and jackson st.?I looked for a signbut no luck and it's all fenced off!

That Franklin Street project is what downtown Tampa really needs. Any word on the reconnection of Franklin Street north of I-275? Now its time for the city to get the trolley expanded into the heart of downtown.

I had this - a photo of a really small rendering that was part of an ad in the paper. Poor quality - though I am pretty sure it's the same project

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/tampasmiles/images/franklinproject1.jpg

Whatever it is, post it

Is the Franklin Street Mall itself being refurbished ?

I don't know, but it looks like things were decked out quite a bit. About 1.5yrs ago, I had a project at school where I had to draw the facades of 2 blocks of buildings along Franklin St, and at that time, it wasn't as nice.




Smiley... The booklet I have from Smith and Associates is for that building. Got it from a guy named Coffield.

Btw, have you met this Toni Everett character? Has anyone else?




Whats being built on the block of pierce,jefferson,washington,and jackson st.?I looked for a signbut no luck and it's all fenced off!

The building going up over off of Jefferson is the new DT school (public). It's going to be 3 stories.



That Franklin Street project is what downtown Tampa really needs. Any word on the reconnection of Franklin Street north of I-275? Now its time for the city to get the trolley expanded into the heart of downtown.

The only thing I don't like about the building is that it's residential only. No retail. But the density level and integrated parking are very nice. The building should sell easily, simply because of its diminutive size. Even with a slow sales pace, they could be putting that thing up in 6-8 months, which is pretty good IMO.

And yeah, they really do need to expand the trolley. If and when it does open, I think that it will have a real impact on the overall connectivity DT. DT is growing, and mass transit is the ONLY way to alieve DT traffic congestion now. We need to stay ahead of the curve.

yeah,i thoght so but i wasn't sure,thanx.

That is the guy who did not send me anything - the bastard. Please post as much as you can.

I have not met Ms. Everett. I assume she is very interesting given the website and the projects.

There are plans to reconnect Franklin, but they have to get around the state office building - which I hope they do not tear down because then they'll move to westshore or something. It should be easy enough to just go around it in the parking lot.

WHO'S THE BASTARD?:?

Dallas Coffield is apparently. :)


Smiley, you MUST go to Toni Everett's office and meet her. When I met her, I just about "lost it", because she is quite the character... The experience is indescribable.:colgate:


This book I got from S&A for the Franklin Residences is very "low end", and is all B&W drafted style elevations and plans only. No renderings or anything else that might actually be visually interesting.

The info I got was seemed to imply that they are not going to do a big brocure unless tehy have to and from what you say tehy probably won't have to. However, my photo of teh elevation is pretty bad - I openly admit - given that it was 1 inch by 1 inch so if you can scan it, that would be cool.

I also don't really care that they don't have any retail given the area - that will just inspire people to renovate some nearby buildings. Later project, however, should include some retail, though not too much until the area gets fixed up - I think.

BTW, I just looked at a map - that building is pretty far north and will be plainly visible as you drive in off 275. I like it. It will stretch things and give real incentive to fix up that area.

What, is Ms. Everett a caracature of a rich realtor lady?

IN DEPTH: COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
From the February 13, 2004 print edition
Channel District redevelopment appearing more doable
Carl Cronan
Staff Writer
TAMPA -- Redevelopment of Tampa's Channel District continues to raise more questions than "coming soon" signs in the currently industrialized area just north of Channelside Drive.

The developers involved say those questions will take the next five years to answer.

From proposed renovation of a 1920s-era warehouse to construction of an elaborate "space needle" tower, numerous commercial and residential projects are under way or on the drawing boards within the three-block area across Garrison Channel from ritzy Harbour Island. At least a dozen projects worth nearly half a billion dollars have been announced so far.

Although some of the talk about a "new" Channel District has gone on for much of the past decade, several nearby components have come along in that time that provide a support structure for upcoming development -- namely the Florida Aquarium, St. Pete Times Forum and the city's cruise terminals.

"It's not a stretch anymore to say it's plausible. A lot of the key pieces are already in place," said Ray Sandelli, senior managing director of CB Richard Ellis who will become chairman of the Tampa Downtown Partnership this summer.

The partnership is interested in the Channel District's progress because of the dynamic effect it can have on Tampa's central business district as a whole, whether providing more shopping and entertainment options for downtown workers and residents, or attracting more University of Tampa students into the city core.

However, it may take a little effort to convince prospective downtown residents that the new-and-improved Channel District won't be limited strictly to the wealthy. Prices for many of the area's proposed housing units are more on par with Harbour Island and Bayshore Boulevard than suburban Tampa.

Some developers are conscious of the targeted demographic for the as-yet-unproven area. For example, the 422-unit Grand Central at Kennedy condominium project is pre-pricing most of its residences below the $250,000 threshold.

"I have no doubt in my mind there is demand," said Ken Stoltenberg, director of Mercury Advisors and developer of Grand Central. He said the development's promotional Web site, notthesuburbs.com, received more than 350,000 responses over the past month.

Stoltenberg said all proposed developments in the Channel District have a good chance at success as long as they form and follow solid business plans. Grand Central's plan, besides widespread marketing for presales, includes developing 127,000 square feet of ground-level retail space that will offer goods and services to residents on upper floors as well as downtown employees, he said.

Channel District development plans should work as well in Tampa as similar projects in other major cities, said David Scher, partner of Stuart S. Golding Co., one of three developers involved in a town-center concept at Channelside Drive and Beneficial Boulevard. He said home sales in the Channel District are projected at a rate of 600 a year -- a similar rate to Lakewood Ranch in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

"Unfortunately, we're neophytes and we really don't know how that's going to happen," Scher said. "If the absorption is there, everything will sell. If it isn't, there will be those that fall by the wayside."

Sandelli noted that the Channelside retail/entertainment complex, which struggled initially after opening three years ago, appears to be in full swing and bodes well for other proposed Channel District developments.

"It's not all going to happen, but those that commit initially and establish themselves will be fine," he said, adding that competitors will likely come along after the area's "pioneers" complete their projects.

One of the first developers to stake property in the Channel District was Pinnacle Group Holdings Inc., whose president Frank DeBose has pursued development of a 624-foot observation tower joined by other buildings since the mid-1990s. DeBose's latest version of Pinnacle of Tampa Bay includes two 37-story towers with nearly 400 condominium units and 70,000 square feet of shops and restaurants within a 12-acre site. His company is working with Morin Development Group on the $350 million project.

The Pinnacle project suffered a number of false starts over the years, including weakened demand for upscale apartments and offices.

"To a degree we have been affected by the market, but we're also trying to drive the market," DeBose said. He said the area's supporting infrastructure and ongoing economic recovery should help the project along to planned completion in the first half of 2007.

While DeBose doesn't want to be bound by specific calendar dates, he is as confident as ever that the Pinnacle will ultimately happen.

"I can assure you this: It will be done at some point in time," he said. "We will overcome all obstacles to reach the finish line. It's a journey. It's not a dash."

ccronan@bizjournals.com | 813.342.2468

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2004/02/16/focus3.html

I had to go to Clearwater on business today, and spent much of the afternoon tooling around, checking things out.

Aside from Bel Harbour's 4 midrises U/C (14,14,12,12), I discovered that there are 5 other midrise projects currently U/C on Sand Key and along the intracoastal north of DT Clearwater (ranging from 5 to 9 stories).

I will provide pics and info on all projects sometime in the next day or so, after I sort the info and resize the pics...

Keep in mind there is a Clearwater Thread.

And I look forward to seeing it.

I will confirm that teh Alagon crane was being assembled today (did they already do the foundation before anyone noticed?)

The Bellamy is not going right now.

I also drove by where that Franklin building should go - it will have a number of old buildings next to and across from it. Some a pretty nice. I hope it gets them moving.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/500/8residences_on_franklin_st_2.jpg