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Retail Developers Edgy But Have Plans For Bay Area

By MICHAEL SASSO
The Tampa Tribune
Published: August 21, 2008
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/aug/21/retail-developers-edgy-have-plans-bay-area/

TAMPA - Despite a slowdown in the shopping center business statwide, developers are planning a few local projects that could bring a Sam's Club to the Riverview area and a Kohl's to western Hillsborough County, among other stores.

This week, shopping center developers displayed some of their upcoming projects at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Kissimmee. The tone of the conference was glum, largely because financing for retail plazas has dried up and the slowdown in Florida's population growth has weakened demand for new retail centers.

However, some developers in the Bay area are trying to line up retail tenants for future projects, even if the projects are a few years from being built.

One of the most ambitious developers is Opus South Corp., an Atlanta affiliate of Minnetonka, Minn.-based Opus Corp. Opus South showed off three proposed Bay area projects at the Kissimmee convention.

It's possible that some projects on the drawing board will not be built, and others could be drastically changed. Dan Morris, a director of real estate for Opus South, noted that some of Opus' projects are conceptual. Projects displayed this week at the convention include:

Midtown Tampa Bay would be near West Cypress Street and Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. Opus South's 600,000-square-foot retail project at this busy intersection would be just south of Interstate 275. Conceptual drawings show four multistory retail buildings with a seven-story parking garage.

This week, Morris said Opus South is in a partnership with the landowner. He didn't name the owner, but Hillsborough County property records show it is The Bromley Cos. of New York. Bromley had been planning a major office development on the site called Tampa Bay 1 for several years.

It wasn't clear this week whether Bromley had canceled plans for its office project. A Bromley representative did not respond to interview requests. Morris, the Opus South executive, could not be reached today for further information.

Jim Michalak, a retail real estate broker with Tampa-based Plaza Advisors, characterized the Midtown Tampa Bay site as an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of development potential. The only problem might be whether the developer could build a retail or office project there and still charge affordable rent, given the high cost of land, impact fees and other expenses, Michalak said.

"You can't get a better location," he said.

Riverview Bell Plaza is a DeBartolo Development project that was unveiled three years ago, but new drawings at the Kissimmee convention this week showed some proposed new tenants, including a Sam's Club.

Riverview Bell Plaza is at Big Bend Road and U.S. 301 in the Riverview area.

Quenta Vettel, a senior manager of communications for Wal-Mart Stores, said Wal-Mart is planning a Sam's Club on the site but has no firm timetable for construction. A DeBartolo spokesman did not return calls this week.

Market at Double Branch is another Opus South project, a 170,000-square-foot "power center" -- a mix of big-box stores and a few smaller retailers -- on Hillsborough Avenue just east of Pinellas County. The Kohl's department store chain has signed a "letter of intent" for the site, Morris said. A letter of intent is less formal than a signed lease but shows strong interest in a location.

Elizabeth Deluca, a Kohl's public relations coordinator, said the company doesn't comment on prospective sites.

Downtown Brandon is yet another proposed Opus South project. It would be a mixed-use development with a mix of retail stores, multifamily housing and office buildings. Early plans show a potential fitness center and grocery.

Look forward to seeing what happens with the midtown project. An additional 600k retail for west Tampa is/would be pretty major. What retail would go in there that the area doesn't already have?

I can easily think of 600k sqft worth of retail boxes that could go there... Just for starters... Kohls, Lowes, Books a Million, Ross, various furniture/design stores, Costco, Dave and Busters...

And that's just the mundane crap that could go in there... That kind of location is primo for new entries into the local market.

I'm just glad Opus is still on the ball with that site. They gobbled up all that land, demo'ed most of it and have been sitting on it since. They were pretty quick to realize what was happening and never got that TampaBay1 project rolling. It looks like a re-tool with a better plan. By going retail only, it creates an opportunity in the surrounding blocks to increase density naturally, rather than shoehorning in another 3/4 empty multi-use project. Plus I rather liked Walters Crossing and how that turned out and I think it would be a great central shopping destination. Being only a mile or so down the road from Westshore/International helps too, further cementing Tampa as the regional shopping hub.

I can easily think of 600k sqft worth of retail boxes that could go there... Just for starters... Kohls, Lowes, Books a Million, Ross, various furniture/design stores, Costco, Dave and Busters...

And that's just the mundane crap that could go in there... That kind of location is primo for new entries into the local market.

I agree that it is a great spot for new entries, and as DShenise said, further establish western Tampa as the metro area's premier retail hub. It woud be cool to see something like ATL's new Streets of Buckhead www.thestreetsofbuckhead.com project, but Tampa Bay doesn't have that level of sophistication yet.

I agree that it is a great spot for new entries, and as DShenise said, further establish western Tampa as the metro area's premier retail hub. It woud be cool to see something like ATL's new Streets of Buckhead www.thestreetsofbuckhead.com project, but Tampa Bay doesn't have that level of sophistication yet.


I wish we could get something like that...but I doubt it!

As a current Atlanta resident, I love the looks of it, but with the current overcapacity of condos here, that place will have a tough road to hoe. The retail will fill up, retail & dining are no problem in this town, because everyone eats out and shops like its their job, but too many current towers are empty. Stick with shopping and the residential will follow.

Looks like a great project. However for Tampa, I wish something like that would be built downtown and not in West Tampa. Downtown should finally get its role as major shopping destination back.

I think that boat has sailed. Once one area gets momentum, its hard to stop. Think of Tyrone in Pinellas, it sucked the life out of everything, including what used to be the mall at Pinellas Park (19 & Gandy/Park Blvd). DT Tampa will get some retail but most likely you'll see it transform into a dining destination. They need to improve the street lighting (actually the sidewalk lighting) and add a few art installations to make more of an impact.

^We can't have a project like that here, because we don't have blocks and blocks of old school storefronts to carelessly demolish. lol

The density is great, but the total destruction of all that was once recognizable isn't exactly the best solution imo. (specifically, one can tell that this developer went after the old retail stock, even though there are empty lots nearby of a similar scale. I think that's bad policy)


Downtown/Ybor will get it's share of new retail in time (my guess is about 1.25mil+ sqft in the next 10yrs, including current projects)... Why? because there's a HUGE dearth of it between Westshore and Brandon, north of Kennedy, and what is around that part of town is old and tenants need to upgrade.

Westshore is going to hurt destination/box retail for a few miles north of it, along Hillsborough Ave, Dale Mabry and so on. (this already started a few years ago), but I wouldn't worry so much about 'Central Tampa'. Increasing urbanization in the coming years will take care of that.

If you take a look at the night pictures of element from the element cam, there is this neat zig zag light going down Franklin St one block north. If they did that the whole way down Franklin down to Kenedy that would be neat!!!!
Also The lighting downtown should be improved. I just wish those Ybor lights weren't so expensive! Maybe they can find an alternative "old style" light for it

As a side note on that Buckhead project. That is the area were all the bars used to be when Buckhead was the bar/party destination. Its funny because when we moved here last year it was in the process of being demo'ed. Its guite the gentrification effort (meaning taking it from an upper middle-class standard to a very high end standard). Imangine demo'ing most of Ybor and rebuilding like this, same concept.

^ I wouldn't mind that as long as they keep the historic buildings.

As a side note on that Buckhead project. That is the area were all the bars used to be when Buckhead was the bar/party destination. Its funny because when we moved here last year it was in the process of being demo'ed. Its guite the gentrification effort (meaning taking it from an upper middle-class standard to a very high end standard). Imangine demo'ing most of Ybor and rebuilding like this, same concept.

Most of Ybor was Demo'ed during Urban Renewal....

True, I was going for the bar angle though. They demo'ed all the bars in that area, so it would be as if they demo'ed 7th Ave. That area of Buckhead didn't/doesn't have many historically significant buildings in my opinion. Most of it was pretty recent vintage (70 years old tops). So it would have more impact in Tampa. It was just the scattering of the bar business that I was hitting on.

Print edition of bizjournal, full article not yet avaliable:

Demand in Westshore is hot as land is scarce
Friday, September 12, 2008
Midtown Tampa Bay taking shape with Bromley, Opus South
Tampa Bay Business Journal - by Janet Leiser Staff Writer

http://cll.bizjournals.com/story_image/204928-0-0-4.jpg
COURTESY OF COLLIERS ARNOLD
Conceptual plan of Midtown Tampa Bay, a proposed 610,000-square-foot retail and entertainment center.

TAMPA — Retailers looking to expand in urban areas have expressed interest in Midtown Tampa Bay, a vertical shopping and entertainment center planned for the northeast corner of West Cypress Street and Dale Mabry Highway.

“This is not a hard sell,” said Jim Roberts, managing director of retail services at Colliers Arnold. “There’s absolutely no alternative opportunities in Westshore for a project like this to be built.”

The proposed 610,000-square-foot upscale center, still in the preliminary stage, will replace Tampa Bay One, another project proposed years ago for the same 17 acres next to Interstate 75.

New York-based Bromley Cos., which specializes in office and campus housing, is partnering with Opus South Corp. to develop the center, which will have as many as seven levels and five buildings, including a parking garage.

http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2008/09/15/story2.html

Looks to be a step down from what Tampa Bay 1 was, but still a step up for the area overall.

I wonder what they are going to be putting in that gap of land in the northwest corner because I thought they own that piece of land as well. I agree with you FloridaFuture. Hopefully this will spur some more development in the midtown area. Maybe the people who own the land where best buy and walmart will think about making their property more dense. That walmart development looks so trashy.

The good thing about this is it does the heavy lifting for the neighborhood. It dumps a bunch (hopefullY) of new retail into the area and increases the wow/glam factor of the neighborhood. This will allow the local developers to slowly, but surely revitalize the surrounding streets. I would imagine LIST looking into the area, and start dropping in their signature quad-plex condos. They totally changed the nature of Courier City, making it a much more attractive neighborhood. If they could get an H&M for the project it'll be a hit. I heard that Zara is going into International, so I doubt that they would stick another store so close, but they would have been a good fit too.

^ Zara is open now.

Cool. Their shoes are kind of suck, but generally if you want a decent casual blazer, something a little different to go with a pair of jeans, you can't miss. Some of their other casual wear is pretty cool too. My wife loves the women's section though.

LOL, when I read that in the Biz Journal I was confused at first...the author refers to "I-75" several times rather than I-275 - that is a big difference of location! This is a decent project though, and it should be nice. But one wonders just how much retail that area can support. Essentially this would be mall #3 in a rather small area of town. But the best of luck to them as I do like the project.

Steve

As long as it has stores and restaurants not found anywhere else in the region, it will succeed. H&M, Juicy Couture, A|X, etc. should be on the list.

H&M would be FANTASTIC, I love that store, but I do not see it happening here any time soon to be honest. However, you are correct, if they have unique or special stores not found elsewhere in Tampa they could do fine.

Steve

Re: H&M. They just opened two up here. One only stocks women's clothes and the other at Atlantic Station is supposed to be one of the largest they've ever built. Cool clothes, but the service sucks. Locally they seemed to hire a lot of the pierced face / tatooed types witha "Go F yourself attitude". But then again its not like they are charging Nordstrom prices. The clothes are pretty well made for disposable fashion.

After looking at the very basic rendering, I think they did a good job on site planning. It seems there aren't any horrendous elevations and it appears that they tried to incorporate some street life by keeping the retail on the main streets and burying the parking in the center. I like the tower ramp in particular, considering that is more expensive to build.

If this actually gets built it'll be a great idea to get some form of circulator LTR going from Westshore to International to Dale Mabry (Walters Crossing, this development, Borders and Barnes and Noble) and then back to Westshore. It'll definately help come Christmas shopping time when everyone from Brandon to Seminole decends on the area.