Historic Courthouse Restoration

[TampaMike]

City began looking for developers for the former Courthouse today.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgo...thouse/1200590

[koopalicious]

Tampa mayor selects team to transform historic federal courthouse into luxury hotel

By Richard Danielson, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Jan 05, 2012 10:49 AM

TAMPA — A four-company team of private developers has been chosen to redevelop Tampa's historic but long-closed U.S. courthouse as a luxury hotel, Mayor Bob Buckhorn announced Thursday.

Tampa Hotel Partners, LLC consists of the Development Service Group (DSG) of Memphis, Ferrell Redevelopment of Tampa, Kobi Karp Architects of Miami, and The Beck Group of Tampa.

"This restoration will breathe new life into downtown," Buckhorn said in a prepared statement.

The project will cost an estimated $22 million and will take at least 16 months to complete. It will also create more than 400 construction jobs during that 16 months, and once completed, the hotel is expected to employ an estimated 100 people.

With its stately three-story columns, tall windows and neoclassic design, the 106-year-old courthouse ranks, along with the University of Tampa's Plant Hall and the Tampa Theatre, as one of the city's most distinctive historic buildings.

City officials have talked for years about redeveloping it. Previous ideas have included using it as home for the Tampa Museum of Art, charter schools, a photography museum and offices for nonprofit organizations.

[...]

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgo...e-into/1209268

[FloridaFuture]

Hotel is an interesting use for it. Probably could've used it for something a bit different.

[Del Mayberry]

Sounds great but I still can't picture it.

[jonknee]

Originally Posted by Del Mayberry

Sounds great but I still can't picture it.

Why not? Other courthouses have been converted into hotels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courthouse_Hotel

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5145/...8e0ccf9c95.jpg

[Del Mayberry]

Originally Posted by jonknee

Why not? Other courthouses have been converted into hotels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courthouse_Hotel

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5145/...8e0ccf9c95.jpg

It's the parking thing. It won't be like a Westshore hotel with a big parking lot. I've seen taxis around the Hyatt but don't think I've seen valet. I guess it will be a good urban feel in DT to see more taxi's and valet.

[jonknee]

Originally Posted by Del Mayberry

It's the parking thing. It won't be like a Westshore hotel with a big parking lot. I've seen taxis around the Hyatt but don't think I've seen valet. I guess it will be a good urban feel in DT to see more taxi's and valet.

There's a valet stand right out front of the Hyatt... There are uniformed valets there 24 hours a day. Really hard to miss.

[Jasonhouse]

At the Marriott Waterside hotel, you can't even get anything but valet through the hotel.

Like a few of us said when this first came up, parking isn't going to be all that hard to solve. Carving up the space to make it profitable at a price point that will work for DT Tampa is the bigger challenge imo. But getting the building from the city for free or close to it, helps bigtime.

[rhythmnation2004]

Turning the courthouse into a hotel is a no-no in my book, especially with the Floridan preparing to open right down the street.

[Jasonhouse]

^They won't necessarily be pursuing the same clientele. At least not according to the visions laid out by each developer.

[Del Mayberry]

By Richard Danielson, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Apr 19, 2012 10:27 PM
TAMPA — The City Council on Thursday approved a long-term lease that clears the way for Tampa's historic but vacant federal courthouse to be reborn as a boutique hotel.
"We're just really enthused about what we can make happen with this beautiful old courthouse," said Gary Prosterman, the owner and principal of Memphis-based Development Services Group, the lead company in the team chosen to restore the courthouse. "I think of all the real estate projects I've been involved in, this will be the most fun in terms of 'before' and 'after' photos."
Outside, the courthouse boasts three-story Corinthian columns at its front portico, tall windows and neoclassic design. Inside, it has courtrooms with ceilings nearly 20 feet high, oak trim, brass fixtures, ornate chandeliers and green-on-white marble wainscoting.
The 107-year-old courthouse on N Florida Avenue was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 but has been closed for about 14 years. The federal government deeded it to the city for $1 in 2003. Maintaining it requires the city to spend nearly $100,000 a year, mostly on air conditioning to limit mold.
Under the terms of the lease, construction will start Dec. 1 and end by May 31, 2014. The $25 million-plus construction project is expected to employ 425 workers, and the hotel is expected to have a staff of 100.
The hotel will pay the city rent of $1 a year for the first two years, $10,000 annually for years three through 30 and $15,000 a year for years 31 through 60. For the first 20 years, the operator will be required to run the hotel at least on a par with a three-star or three-diamond hotel as rated by a rating agency such as AAA. After that, the lease does allow some additional uses on the property, including offices, residences or a school.
Under no circumstances, however, can any part of the courthouse be used for a pool room, dance hall, pawn shop, gambling den, adult book store, second-hand store, illegal massage parlor, beauty school, barber college, auction house, flea market or church.
While a competing developer offered the city a cut of the hotel project's receipts, city officials said Prosterman's company has direct experience converting historic buildings into luxury hotels. In 2010, the company won the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Award for Adaptive Reuse for converting an old YMCA building into the four-star Le Meridien Hotel in Philadelphia.
"It was not money that was the deciding factor," city economic opportunity administrator Bob McDonaugh told council members. "It was the experience of the developer, someone who had done a similar project."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgo...-ahead/1225996

[Del Mayberry]

a video here:

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/new...boutique-hotel

[Del Mayberry]

brief update:

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/...article_search

[Jasonhouse]

$27 million for this project.

So northern DT will soon have two nice hotels.

[TampaMike]

Pretty sure the final paper work went through today during the city council meeting and we should see crews arriving in the next week or so and construction and restoration starting in the first week of December.

[kmthurman]

Nice!

[Del Mayberry]

Thanks for the update. I forgot all about this one.

[bscott23]

Groundbreaking Ceremony on February 13th @ 2:00PM

http://tampapreservation.com/event/f...king-ceremony/

[HARTride 2012]

[jonknee]

It was news to me that this hotel will be under the Le Meridien brand. That's a big step up for both Tampa and downtown. I can't wait to see what they do.