Tampa Heights Redevelopment

[Jasonhouse]

Sure, I'll come meet people.

[TampaMike]

It's easier now to drive there and back since I have the money to spend on gas while paying for other crap thanks to having a job now. Not looking forward to gas being $4 a gallon again though. I think the lady I was talking to was a little taken back also that I took the drive to a groundbreaking in Channelside. But it was worth it.

I don't think it's that people don't want to meet, it's just hard trying to get a group together here. You got DShenise and Maxim that don't live here anymore, FF, JBrisco, and HART that are going to school, and others are working. I believe tampa steve lives in Pasco actually, if I remember correctly. So it's also trying to find time to get a good group together while also getting a group together.

[kmthurman]

Start a thread about it and see what happens? Sounds like a weekend day or evening might work for the people that are hear. Might be fun even if it's four or five people. I know I am new and all, but it'd be fun.

[kmthurman]

Looks like the city is formally pulling out of the heights development deal today ...

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-ne...ect-ar-435532/

Mayor seeking funding for Water Works Park project

TAMPA --
With a federal grant in hand to finish the Tampa Riverwalk, city officials are now turning their attention toward creating a destination worthy of the 2.2-mile end-to-end journey.

Today, city council members will take up two requests by Mayor Bob Buckhorn — one to inject $4.7 million in redevelopment money into the city's Water Works Park and the other to scuttle a development deal signed six years ago to surround the park with homes and businesses.

That deal was struck as the housing market collapsed. Since then, Water Works Park and the surrounding Tampa Heights Riverfront development district have languished behind a chain-link fence.

Attorney Ed Turanchik of West Tampa said the city's renewed interest in Water Works Park could inspire new development on the riverfront project.

"It can't hurt. But in the end, it's all about the numbers," Turanchik said.

Today's actions are the latest steps to breathe life into a vision former Mayor Dick Greco first articulated in the 1990s. Now, they're part of Buckhorn's plan to make the lower Hillsborough River a focal point for life downtown.

Earlier this year, Buckhorn signed a deal with Columbia Restaurant owner Richard Gonzmart and Metro Bay Realty to turn the century-old Water Works building into a chophouse-style restaurant.

The brick building sits at the southwest corner of Doyle Carlton Drive and West 7th Avenue. It's surrounded on three sides by Water Works Park.

The city has been sitting on plans for Water Works Park since 2006. With millions of federal money headed to the Riverwalk, the city hopes to start construction on the park sometime next year, said Bob McDonaugh, the city's economic development chief.

The basic concept for the park includes a playground, fountains, a grassy lawn, a stage and a launch for kayaks and canoes. It includes a state-funded effort to restore Ulele Spring, the city's first drinking water source.

The park sits at the south end of the 77-acre redevelopment district, which encompasses a mix of residential and former industrial land. The site sits within sight of downtown, where the river bends sharply south on its way to meet Hillsborough Bay.

Voiding the existing development plans for the surrounding development district may encourage a new developer to consider the property, McDonaugh said.

The city is also asking the council to kill a development agreement signed in 2006 that envisioned nearly 2,000 residential units, nearly 300,000 square feet of retail and office space and 100 boat slips.

That deal, signed under former Mayor Pam Iorio, collapsed when the housing bubble burst. Since then, two of the property's three owners lost their stakes to foreclosures, McDonaugh said.

"The big problem is the property was bought when the market was high and now the market is low," Turanchik said.

A taxing district established in the area produces less than $100,000 a year for the city. That could change if the city can lure a new developer by clearing the development slate, McDonaugh said.

"This is all about simplifying it," he said.

[Jasonhouse]

They have to pull out to enable the new developers who will come in to start with a clean slate, and not be hamstrung by a vision crafted in a much different developmental environment. Notice that the zoning won't be changing, they're just ending the contracts that bound the landowner to a certain process.

My biggest concern is that the city's eagerness to develop the parcel results in what that always results in locally... A shit-ass, myopic project getting developed that pays the developer short term profits, and saddles the city with an ill-conceived plan that is regretted shortly after it's actually built.

[TPAMAN]

Hopes rise in Tampa as the Heights emerges from bankruptcy

By Richard Danielson, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Tuesday, October 23, 2012



























TAMPA — After being tied up in bankruptcy court for more than a year, the project long known as the Heights is re-emerging with new ownership.

Riverside Heights Holdings, a company formed by Tampa investors Adam Harden and Chas Bruck, paid $2 million about two weeks ago for the 4.7-acre site of the old Trolley Barn, a red-brick warehouse with "Tampa Armature Works" painted across its top.

With that acquisition, Harden and Bruck, who run the private equity firm SoHo Capital, own all of the riverfront property of the Heights between Water Works Park on Highland Avenue and N Boulevard.

As the rest of the project comes free of Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, Riverside Heights Holdings, along with a minority partner, Lakeland-based Hillsborough River Properties, expect to own or control a total of about 30 acres north of Interstate 275, across the river from Blake High School.

"We are excited by the redevelopment potential the historic Trolley Barn holds and believe that with good planning and some TLC it will become the heart and soul of a vibrant mixed-use development we will call Riverside Heights," Harden said in an email to the Tampa Bay Times last week.

While the developers need to talk to the city about several issues, they plan to reinitiate a delayed effort to clean up land that had been used for industry and to reintroduce the project to the market in mid 2013.

"We see the project being developed generally within the framework of the existing master plan," Harden said. As previously approved, that plan called for 1,900 multifamily housing units with a projected population of 4,300, plus 100 boat slips and 260,000 square feet of offices, stores and cafes.

Watching the Heights' bankruptcy wrap up has Tampa officials hopeful that the project may yet fulfill its potential.

"It's a great time for that property to come together and finally be put to use," said city economic opportunity administrator Bob McDonaugh, who recently told the City Council that Tampa officials have had several productive meetings with Harden's team.

But Harden and Bruck aren't interested in only the east bank of the Hillsborough River.

Along with three other companies, they also submitted a proposal this month to the Tampa Housing Authority regarding the west bank.

Working with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, the Housing Authority had issued a request for developers to create a master plan for redeveloping 120 acres west of the river, generally north of I-275 and south of Columbus Drive.

The first phase of that project would be to demolish the Housing Authority's North Boulevard Homes and Mary Bethune public housing complexes.

Housing for low-income residents would be replaced, but not be so concentrated.

And the 40 acres would be redeveloped as a mixed-income neighborhood.

In the long run, Buckhorn wants both banks of the river to become densely populated magnets for new development, with plenty of stores, restaurants and public access to the waterfront.

Toward that end, he wants to redevelop a 12-acre truck yard the city owns a block from the river and consider changes, including a waterfront restaurant, for the 23-acre Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park.

Through SoHo Capital, Harden and Bruck already own the 165-unit Columbus Court Apartments on the west side of the river, south of Columbus Drive.

For the Housing Authority proposal, they have teamed up with Lennar Homes, a national home builder; Columbia Residential, which has overseen mixed-use, mixed-income redevelopments in New Orleans and Atlanta; and the Richman Development Group, which specializes in helping affordable housing projects use tax credits in their financing.

In its proposal to the Housing Authority, SoHo Capital's team says its vision is to create "vibrant public places that support strong mixed-use and mixed-income communities," with new pedestrian and transit connections to downtown and West Shore.

The Housing Authority has said a contract could be awarded in November.

Officials hope to have a master plan for the 120 acres west of the river complete by March.

The four other teams vying for the contract include one each from New Jersey and Missouri, and two others in Tampa:

• A partnership between the Norstar/Primerica Multi-Family Redevelopment Group and the national design firm of Wallace Roberts & Todd.

• Urban Scape Community Development, whose lead contact is Roxanne Amoroso, the former Bank of America senior vice president known for her role in the successful start of Encore, the 40-plus-acre, mixed-use development rising on the northeast edge of downtown Tampa. The Encore project is a venture between Bank of America and the Tampa Housing Authority.

The Urban Scape team also includes developer Stew Gibbons; the NRP Group, a developer of affordable housing; David Weekley Homes, a national home builder; and ZMG Development and Malphus Construction, which collaborated on the infrastructure work at Encore.

Back on the east side of the river, the city continues to plan for a makeover of Water Works Park, south of the Trolley Barn.

The city also is working with Columbia Restaurant owner Richard Gonzmart and Bill Rain of Metro Bay Real Estate on plans for a $2 million privately financed redevelopment of the city's old Water Works building as a riverfront restaurant.

McDonaugh said he expects to take a lease for the Water Works building to the City Council within the next month.

Richard Danielson can be reached at danielson@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3403.

[Last modified: Oct 22, 2012 11:38 PM]

Copyright 2012 Tampa Bay Times

[Del Mayberry]

Let's just wait another ten years and see what happens.

[Jasonhouse]

I give it 2 maybe 3 this time.

[jonknee]

If anyone else noticed the giant white tent set up in the Heights along the river (Palm / Blvd), I tracked it down to being for Metropolitan Ministries. They're building an apartment building along Florida where their annual holiday donation drive tent is usually set up.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/south-tampa...ons-ar-538818/

TAMPA HEIGHTS -- The holiday donation drop-off tent for Metropolitan Ministries -- a familiar sight along Florida Avenue every November and December -- has a new home.

A massive tent has gone up at 400 Palm Ave. on vacant land slated to become a major urban redevelopment project in Tampa Heights. The new location was needed because the nonprofit group is building 50 apartments for families who need short-term housing.

MiraclePlace, the apartment complex, is on the Florida Avenue land where the holiday tent formerly stood each year.

SoHo Capital, which owns the Palm Avenue land, offered the site as a temporary drop-off and distribution base for Metropolitan Ministries' annual food and toy giveaway.

"They were very generous in giving us this large space," said spokesman David Bledsoe. "It's very convenient to us."

The site is about five blocks from Metropolitan Ministries' headquarters at 2002 N. Florida Ave.

Construction is nearing completion, with help provided by the city of Tampa and JVS Construction.

The charity anticipates serving more than 25,000 families including more than 26,000 children this holiday season. About 10,000 volunteers help with donations and registrations.

Metropolitan Ministries this year is working with Toys 4 Tots. The charities will provide applications for each other's programs at their registration sites.

Once the tent is fully installed, donations to Metropolitan Ministries can be dropped off at the Palm Avenue location. But registrations will not be accepted there. The primary registration site, which already is taking applications, is at Springhill Park Community Center, 1000 Eskimo Ave. Other sites in Tampa are at University Area Neighborhood Service Center, 13605 N. 22{+n}{+d} St.; Tampa Family Health Center, 8108 N. Nebraska Ave.; and Shekinah Glory Cathedral, 1301 S. 78th St.

In Pasco County, registrations are being accepted at Pasco Metropolitan Ministries Outreach Center, 3214 U.S. Hwy. 19 in Holiday; and in Pinellas County at Taking it to the Streets, 7320 47th St. North in Pinellas Park. An additional Pinellas location will open on Nov. 5 at Together Step-by-Step, 1250 Holt Ave. in Clearwater.

[Del Mayberry]

check out the four pics of the old building transformation

http://www.tampabay.com/news/busines...growth/2116238

[kmthurman]

Originally Posted by Del Mayberry

check out the four pics of the old building transformation

http://www.tampabay.com/news/busines...growth/2116238

Looks A LOT better than what has been put out before, but i am still concerned that it might be surrounded by surface parking still.

[koopalicious]

Kevin, they received a CA from the ARC last month and the plan was for all parking to be handled offsite. There were outdoor patio areas on the south, west, and north of the building.

[tampaizzy]

The food sounds great! I always thought it was interesting that there was never a place to get traditional Tampa food in downtown tampa. No crab cakes, smoked mullet or cuban sandwiches that were really great. It was all ybor, west tampa, south tampa.

[smiley]

Maybe because there used to be places downtown.

[kmthurman]

Originally Posted by koopalicious

Kevin, they received a CA from the ARC last month and the plan was for all parking to be handled offsite. There were outdoor patio areas on the south, west, and north of the building.

Woot!

[smiley]

By "off site" do you mean across the street or way down the street?