The low-rise building at the corner..

[tampasteve]

Come on guys, we would all LOVE a 20-40 floor tower on this property, however, this block has been vacant for years now and if this development did/does not happen then it will continue to be a dead block for years to come. It is depressing and embarrassing to walk/drive past this shell of a building on a major entry to DT. I mean, come on guys, this hotel is already being criticized and the designs are not even out. Who knows if a 40 floor tower was proposed it may not even have any ground floor retail/bar at all. At least this hotel plans to have a ground floor riverside bar in the plans - and this is something we ALL want.

I, for one, would rather have a vibrant trendy hotel with a riverside bar than a dead building.There are still a ton of vacant lots in the core of the city that can be developed when the economy comes back, it would be a better use of our criticizing to lambast these blights.

Steve

[HARTride 2012]

Agreed.

[rmaddrey]

A very valid point. It is depressing to walk by and see that building sitting idle and addled. Something is better than nothing, even if it does seem as though it may be underwhelming. Let us hope the budget drastically changes the aesthetics of the exterior as well as the interior.

On a side note, I would love to be able to get my hands on that scale model for Venue that's still inside, I remember seeing it years back and it really was quite stunning.

[gstolze]

When I watch the Venu promotion video I get so disappointed that it didn't get built.

[TPAMAN]

I agree it's better than nothing and the city does not have much leverage. That said, when I look at their investment of 2MIL for the property and then this being the best use they could come up with, it makes me wonder why the city didn't buy it and hand it over to a developer with deeper pockets on the condition something substantial be done there. The city is asked to hand out other "incentives" (i.e. Crafts & Arts Museum, etc...) only to take up public land and here a prime lot for redevlopment gets another mediocre replacement.
Considering the access to the soon to be complete completed Riverwalk, the views to UTand the southwest, and this prominent corner, I was hoping for more. I was hoping for more.

[Del Mayberry]

some things to consider:

the side along Kennedy is just a wall. Not much that can be done about that.
the riverfront activity sounds good but don't see much happening on the Ashley side
can it complete with nextdoor? Maybe it could and cause Sheraton to lower room rates & be more competitive
will it look better if the exterior was painted something other than shit brown?
article says the inside of building is in good shape (a plus)
100 to 120 rooms? Seems like too many for the size of this little building

[Jasonhouse]

Where the heck did my post go? I posted almost immediately after Kevin did. I even saw the post in my browser after the forum refreshes on the user end. Gah!

No loss really, as all I said is much the same thing most others are saying. This building sucks, and unless they're completely redoing the facade, it's going to continue to suck.

ps... I bet the plumbing and HVAC work on this building to convert it to a hotel will be a real treat.

[tampasteve]

Originally Posted by Del Mayberry

100 to 120 rooms? Seems like too many for the size of this little building

Yeah, 120 would be a lot. 100 would not be bad, that would only divide down to 16 per floor, which if you look at the building would not be too bad, really.

Steve

[rmaddrey]

Thinking back on any of the "W" or similar hotel brands I've stayed at over the years I'm still just having a hard time picturing this building as that caliber of accommodations. Perhaps it's just a mental block, blighted by the current state of the building.

[tampasteve]

Originally Posted by rmaddrey

Thinking back on any of the "W" or similar hotel brands I've stayed at over the years I'm still just having a hard time picturing this building as that caliber of accommodations. Perhaps it's just a mental block, blighted by the current state of the building.

Yeah, I doubt it could/would be a W, the property is too small and the budget is too low to remodel it as a W. Now, I could see it being an Aloft. Those are usually smaller than W brands and I have seen older buildings remodeled into Aloft brands.

For example, the Aloft in Dallas:


Otherwise, it would not take too much to throw some new exterior cladding on it to look something like this one:

[TPAMAN]

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

Where the heck did my post go? I posted almost immediately after Kevin did. I even saw the post in my browser after the forum refreshes on the user end. Gah!

No loss really, as all I said is much the same thing most others are saying. This building sucks, and unless they're completely redoing the facade, it's going to continue to suck.

ps... I bet the plumbing and HVAC work on this building to convert it to a hotel will be a real treat.

I wish I had the time and money to do what these guys did (raise approx 2MIL for the site). I would have sat on it and taken the time to partner with a national player capable of pulling off a hotel "something Venu like" for the site which would have added a signature product for Tampa.
I travel pretty extensively for my company and visit many cities in the US and abroad. I have visited cities smaller than Tampa and even they have central gathering places where you have a sense of community and liveability in the downtown areas (i.e. traffic circles surrounded by retail/restaurants/outdoor seating, courtyards/plazas with the same, even busy intersections where you see actual people interacting and not just waiting to cross the street.
I went to the site yesterday to kind of imagine what could be or could have been. You have this corner where the retaining wall could come down and had we had a new project, it would have, opening the site to street interaction. I could see outdoor seating in the plaza where Malio's and the Photographic Arts Museum meet (the cubes), as well as the opposite corner where Bank of America sits. In large cities, they open up these lower floors to ourdoor plazas where people can walk up to a coffee shop or retail establishment.
I know I don't own the site and the city is not responsible to subsidize private enterprise. That said, I get frustrated when the city does subsidize non-profits (i.e. museums on our public land) with millions of our taxpayer dollars and we still don't have a vibrant city to show for it.
Orlando is moving in the right direction, Miami is on fire again, and even Jacksonville has a plan implemented for it's DT core. Our leaders instead are busy studying this area and that area while moving on to the next while leaving things half assed not done.

[Del Mayberry]

and it's been like this decade after decade.

[Jasonhouse]

Meh. It is what it is. Keep filling in the holes and eventually, it gets filled in. Hopefully things will get better. If not, we can always move.

[bueller]

[IMG]image hosted on flickr
[/IMG]
[IMG]image hosted on flickr
[/IMG]

[tamparican]

nice pics... good to see the ppl out there relaxing... nice angle of the building in question as well.... such a prime location for a signature building and instead we keep this... as tpaman mentioned earlier, I'm sure there could have been a better incentive program for a private developer to come in and build something good on that location. Seeying the city is already willing to invest $5million to that museum of arts and crafts collection, wish there was better encouragement for that location. However, we have to deal with what we have, so I'm hoping that the plans for the hotel come out alright. Something is better than nothing.

[tampasteve]

This is not really news, but it could be related. Apparently Starwood hotels registered the domain name alofttampa.com back in May of 2011. Might be related, might not.

http://whois.domaintools.com/alofttampa.com

[USF802]

Good catch, should be open by early 2014. Good news indeed.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.® and Liberty Group have announced that Starwood's fast-growing Aloft® brand will soon debut in Tampa, Florida. Opening in early 2014 along the Tampa Riverwalk, Aloft Tampa Downtown will occupy the former Mercantile Bank office building as part of an adaptive re-use project developed, owned and managed by the Liberty Group in a joint-venture partnership with Convergent Capital Partners, which acquired the vacant office building earlier this year. Orlando-based Baker Barrios Architects has been selected as the lead architect and interior designer for the project.

Aloft Tampa Downtown will deliver style-at-a-steal with 130 spacious, loft-like rooms, forward-thinking technology and a vibrant, social atmosphere in an ideal location along the Tampa Riverwalk, the landmark gateway to downtown. It will be the fifth Aloft in Florida, following the opening of Aloft Miami-Brickwell in 2013.

"We are thrilled to add Tampa to the Aloft brand's rapidly growing list of destinations in Florida and look forward to working with Liberty Group on this exciting adaptive re-use project ," said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President, Speciality Select Brands for Starwood. "The go-to brand for savvy travelers, Aloft delivers high design, accessible technology and a social atmosphere."

"With its urban design aesthetic and appeal to savvy travelers, Aloft is particularly well-suited to adaptive re-use projects like Aloft Tampa," said Allison Reid, Senior Vice President of North America Development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Aloft has a fiercely loyal following and has proven to be a hit within the development community. Conversions represent a promising growth channel for the brand, helping us bring the brand to new markets more quickly to meet growing demand."

The project is a vision of joint-venture partners Punit Shah of Liberty Group and Santosh Govindaraju of Convergent Capital Partners. Collectively, the companies have invested over $550,000,000 in performing / sub-performing commercial mortgages and real estate including hotels, golf courses, multifamily, and office in just the past four years.

For Liberty Group, Aloft Tampa Downtown represents yet another opportunity to adapt and reposition another distressed property in a prime location, having acquired more than 20 hotels throughout the United States since 2010.

"While we already own several premier hotels in the Tampa Bay area, my family has specifically been focused on developing a hotel in downtown Tampa for years, and this project presents the perfect opportunity to own the hippest hotel in the most dynamic location in Tampa Bay," says Punit Shah, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Liberty Group. "Tampa continues to establish itself as a world-class city, and our urban core offers diverse demand generators that create the ideal location for our Aloft hotel. It's a wonderful accomplishment for Tampa to have an Aloft Hotel that is in the same conversation as cities like London, New York, Beijing, and Abu Dhabi."

Located along the Hillsborough River and the new Tampa Riverwalk, Aloft Tampa Downtown will be within walking distance of the University of Tampa, Tampa Convention Center, University of South Florida's new CAMLS facility, Tampa Times Forum, Tampa Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa History Museum, Curtis Hixon Park, Florida Aquarium, and the Port of Tampa. Hotel amenities will include the Aloft brand's signature w xyz sm bar located adjacent to the waterfront pool and a 24-hour fitness center. Aloft Tampa Downtown will also feature a 4,000 square foot rooftop flexible meeting and outdoor terrace area in the heart of Tampa's bustling financial district.

"This project will energize a very important gateway into our downtown and add more activity to our Riverwalk," said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. "It's great to see another building in our downtown re-purposed with such a well-respected Development Team and Brand associated with the development."

http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk/new...n-to-open-2014

[tampasteve]

Originally Posted by USF802

Good catch, should be open by early 2014. Good news indeed.



http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk/new...n-to-open-2014

Wow, good find!

[Del Mayberry]

Kinda fluffy. It will be interesting to see how they "reinvent" this ugly building.

[tampasteve]

Originally Posted by Del Mayberry

Kinda fluffy. It will be interesting to see how they "reinvent" this ugly building.

Well, since it is going from an office building to hotel there will be some substantial changes to the interior. I would expect the exterior to remain very similar, with the addition of the bar on the ground floor. If it is similar to other Aloft remodels the exterior will look very similar to the current.