TAMPA | SouthGate | 20 stories | 450,000 sq. ft. office | APR

[smiley]

Well, I am more cynical than you - everyone is looking for a quick buck. I don't care about that. I still haven't seen the layout or the full plan so, while I suspect it will be not so good, I am not going to say I know it will be not so good. Anyway, as far as I am concerned, if it is a tower with parking garage and street retail along most of both elements, that would be like the Place with a point tower - though maybe a little less artful.

[Jasonhouse]

I do not agree that all developers look to build their project, lease it and then quickly sell it. I feel there is a distinct difference between a developer doing that, and one that is going to build and hold. And it is logical to expect a difference in the level of commitment to developing a quality project between the two. One is basing their numbers on a rising office market in the here and now, the other is thinking about making sure their project is as profitable 20 years from now as it is today.

[HARTride 2012]

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

I do not agree that all developers look to build their project, lease it and then quickly sell it. I feel there is a distinct difference between a developer doing that, and one that is going to build and hold. And it is logical to expect a difference in the level of commitment to developing a quality project between the two. One is basing their numbers on a rising office market in the here and now, the other is thinking about making sure their project is as profitable 20 years from now as it is today.

I like the idea of developers looking at the long-term...

[smiley]

The shareholders don't . . .

[HARTride 2012]

Originally Posted by smiley

The shareholders don't . . .

In my view, shareholders only care about making lots of $$$$$.

[Maxim98]

Originally Posted by wslupecki

In my view, shareholders only care about making lots of $$$$$.

Uh, duh?

[randommichael]

That is a new concept to me. Today I also learned that the sky is blue.

[HARTride 2012]

Anyways, I am quite interested to see how this development is going to progress.

[Robert.Maddrey]

Originally Posted by randommichael

That is a new concept to me. Today I also learned that the sky is blue.

Haha, quality.

[FloridaFuture]

New article and larger rendering from the downtown partnership.

New Office Tower Planned
By: Gary Shepherd



A new office tower slated downtown will be the first such construction since the early 1990s. And when ground is broken for the 445,000-square-foot, green-glass Prime Meridian Center, it will be because Bob Abberger thinks differently from most developers.


Abberger – Trammell Crow Co.’s Tampa-based managing director of Florida development services – pays attention to the market. “I’m a student of market cycles and trends,” says the past chairman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100.



But also, he says, “I’ve often followed a contrarian path” – when common business wisdom says “zig,” Abberger says, he tends to “zag.” And that philosophy has paid off for Abberger. Perhaps his best-known work is downtown’s very successful Marriott Waterside hotel.



“That was a contrarian play,” says Abberger of the 717-room Marriott Waterside. “That project began a $1 billion development cycle. I believe Prime Meridian Center will launch development on the same scale.”



Prime Meridian Center will be a 19-story, $150 million building with an attached garage. It will be located on a 2.6-acre site at the northwest corner of Meridian Avenue and Channelside Drive. Planned to open by 2010, the office tower will have 28,000-square-feet floor plates, and the nine-floor, 1,800-space parking garage will offer four spaces per 1,000 square feet of office space – a luxurious ratio vs. most downtown office towers.



The developer will seek silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program; if awarded, it would be the first downtown office tower with such a certification. “The operating efficiencies and benefits of LEED silver certification will set a new standard for Class A office projects in the Tampa Bay market,” marketing material boasts.



The building will have a structural concrete frame with a cost effective skin made of a mix of high efficiency insulated vision green glass and architectural pre-cast concrete.



A stone’s throw east of the St. Pete Times Forum and across the street from the massive Channelside entertainment complex, the tower will rise where a condo tower was planned before the residential market went soft. The site is close to convention, hospitality, cruise ship and residential districts in the southeast quadrant of downtown. It is also very close to an entrance to the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway, and the new tower will be directly adjacent to Tampa’s Historic Streetcar line.



The site is under deposit subject only to rezoning, says Abberger. City site plan and design review approvals should come in November, acquisition should be completed in December, and construction should begin next April, says Abberger.



Architect will be Hellmuth Obata + Kassabaum; the GC will be Beck Construction. Downtown’s last new office towers came in 1992, when three buildings opened. And, despite a 17 percent office vacancy rate downtown, the project will work, Abberger vows.



“Downtown is where tenants want to be if they have the right building,” he says. “I spent a lot of time searching for the right site, and I’m sure I found it.”



“When conceptualizing the new project, the idea was to deliver everything. And we’re going to do that.”

http://www.tampasdowntown.com/newsletter.aspx?newid=69

[TampaMike]

Don't know if I like a idea of an office building in Channelside, but the project looks okay. Looks like it is just across the street from Towers at Channelside.

[Maxim98]

Oh so fugly.

[FloridaFuture]

Originally Posted by Maxim98

Oh so fugly.

Yep. Especially since it now appears the project has no retail and takes up a lot of prime land.

The tower portion would've looekd nicer if it was taller or on top of the garage at least, but this just looks stubby. I guess we can thank the FAA.

[Maxim98]

Originally Posted by FloridaFuture

Yep. Especially since it now appears the project has no retail and takes up a lot of prime land.

The tower portion would've looekd nicer if it was taller or on top of the garage at least, but this just looks stubby. I guess we can thank the FAA.

Was it approved? I'd be shocked if the hyperactive Channelside Homeowners did nothing about this abomination. It's cheap, poorly planned, and dated.

[FloridaFuture]

Originally Posted by Maxim98

Was it approved? I'd be shocked if the hyperactive Channelside Homeowners did nothing about this abomination. It's cheap, poorly planned, and dated.

To my knowledge it hasn't gone before the council yet. I wouldn't be surprised if peopel went crazy over it though because it's something new for the district and they don't know better that it's not a quality project and therefore should be rejected.

Hopefully we've got enough voacal AND smart people in Channelside to help keep this one from being built.

[tampamobster21]

Or at least have them go back to the drawing board and design a quality project with creative use of streetscape and height with maximum utilization of height restrictions. The building looks too much like the abomination that is the County Center.

[TampaMike]

kentski just posted in the Channelside Thread that there is a sign on the site that says that restaurants/retail will be included. Where will this retail be? Also, I don't care if this has retail, bad project and bad location.

[Jasonhouse]

Originally Posted by NewPortRicheyGuy

Don't know if I like a idea of an office building in Channelside, but the project looks okay. Looks like it is just across the street from Towers at Channelside.

I think an office tower in Channelside is great, and that this building looks like crap and will not age well... I hope the people on HI like this hulking slab in their DT vista for the next 50+ years.

[FloridaFuture]

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

I think an office tower in Channelside is great, and that this building looks like crap and will not age well... I hope the people on HI like this hulking slab in their DT vista for the next 50+ years.

Actually that makes me think about something. If the people on H.I. helped to reject Blu, a project that was going to give them a grocery store, then I wonder what those people will think of traffic from an office building that won't have a grocery and will cause more traffic then Blu.

[multifamilyinvestor]

It would be a tragedy if that site was developed without street retail.

AND I still hate the folks at Harbour Island for nixing that supermarket.