TAMPA | Crosland Tower | 27 stories | 418 Units | 340ft | DEAD

^Yeah, where is this untapped need for luxury rentals coming from? Who is it coming from? There's a clear need for mid-priced rentals but I don't buy the luxo tag.
Also, is it the block bounded by Tampa-Tyler-Franklin and Harrison (where Dominos is) or by Tampa-Tyler-Franklin and Cass (where... um... a lot of vacant buildings are. And Paramount Wigs)? Since Harrison doesn't technically go through the block I'm assuming that's the property they're talking about, next to the abandoned park (I'm sorry but that's what the city has done is abandon that park), but this is quite unclear. One phone call from the reporter would have answered the question but... nah, not gonna bother. We know they're shite.

^It's irrelevant... If rents are going to be more than like $1.75-2.00+sqft, per month then it's going to be 'luxury' so far as most locals are concerned, regardless of what the amenities are.


Looking at who owns what around there, as well as the size and shape of the possible subject parcels, it must be an addly shaped parcel on the north side of Tyler.

The best I can figure is like this...

The article says the subject parcel is 1.2 acres... if correct, that automatically negates the block bounded by Tyler, Tampa, Cass and Franklin... A typical DT block is almost exactly an acre, so "1.2 acres" isn't possible.

The only leaves the north side of Tyler, bounded by Franklin and Tampa, which is basically a 'superblock' all the way up to Royal, if you don't count the ROW for Harrison... Furthermore, if you then take that 'superblock' bounded by Tyler, Franklin, Royal and Tampa, and then subtract the land for Residences at Franklin, and subtract the land for the dilapidated city park, and you wind up with a bit over an acre of land... That would help explain why the northerly boundary was omitted from the article, since in that case, the northerly boundary is probably someone else's land, not a public ROW.

So, my guess is that this project will generally be north of Tyler and will mostly be situated in between Tampa St and Residences at Franklin/city park.

The residential market for Tampa Bay has slowed, but that has not stopped all development in downtown Tampa. A new apartment high-rise development was announced this past week for the N. Franklin Street area. The proposed project will be 26-stories tall and offer 16,000 square feet of ground floor retail. The location for the project is Franklin, Tampa and Tyler streets. The apartment homes will be very close to amenities such as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, the new Tampa Museum of Art, new Curtis Hixon Park. And Herman Massey Park, located on Franklin Street, would be at its front door. The project will be built by Charlotte, NC developer Crosland and local developer, Intown Group, developer of SkyPoint and Element. Tampa City Council will hold a rezoning hearing on the project July 31st.

Click to expand...

http://www.tampasdowntown.com/newsletter.aspx?newid=67

Downtown Tampa could get apartments

Downtown Tampa could get apartments

By Michael Van Sickler, Times Staff Writer
In print: Sunday, May 25, 2008

TAMPA — As downtown Tampa blocks go, the one at the northwest corner of Franklin and Tyler streets hardly seems to be the hot piece of real estate.

A wee bit over an acre, it's got a Domino's Pizza, a defunct music shop, a vacant lot with weeds and sand, and lots of parked cars.

But by the end of July, Tampa's City Council could approve a major facelift and usher in downtown's first major apartment complex.

Local developer Greg Minder and Crosland Elements LLC of Charlotte, N.C., are seeking approval of a 26-story tower with 411 apartments, an accompanying seven-story parking garage, and 16,000 square feet of retail and office space on the ground floor.

Minder said the project is crucial in linking the west side of Franklin, flanked now by the Residences of Franklin Street condos and the swanky Fly restaurant, to the middle and eastern portions, anchored by the Tampa Theatre, a flurry of recent restaurant openings and Element, a 35-story condo tower now under construction.

"It's an exciting project," Minder said. "This is a major piece of the pie. North Franklin Street needed to be connected."

No architectural drawings were available, but Minder said the design of the building will be art deco and distinctive. The apartments will rent at monthly rates between $600 and $2,000. If the City Council approves it, he hopes to start construction by the end of the year and be finished by 2010, he said.

If this all seems far-fetched for a block that has struggled for decades, look at Minder's track record. Minder, who has worked with Atlanta's Novare Group in building downtown's first major condo towers — Element and the 32-story SkyPoint — gets instant respect from downtown insiders.

"I'm thrilled to see Greg's projects keep going," said Abbey Dohring, a downtown real estate broker and president of the Uptown Council, a neighborhood association of businesses and residents. "I love how he sees through the dust and continues to build."

Minder intended to work with Novare again on the apartment complex. But the Atlanta developer does mostly condos and wasn't interested in doing rentals, he said. That's when Minder approached Crosland, which is building apartments in Tampa.

"We clicked," he said.

One of the property's slightly hidden treasures is that it's next to Herman Massey Park, which Tampa built in the 1980s when it paved Franklin Street with bricks. Those improvements never quite sparked a hoped-for economic rebirth, though. A chain-link fence surrounds the park, which has been closed for two years. The rest of the block is , as well.

Dohring said the city plans to remove the fence this summer, providing an extra perk for the Crosland tower to come.

"The retail shops will open right up to the park," she said. "It'll be amazing."

If anyone should be skeptical about the project's chances, it might be Tony Cunningham, who, along with his then-wife, bought up much of the block in the 1980s for about $680,000. He's under contract with Crosland to sell the land after waiting more than 20 years. The wait for the property to realize its potential outlasted his marriage, he said ruefully.

"It's a long time, but better late than never," said Cunningham, who's now 75 and still working as a trial lawyer. "We're certainly pleased with Crosland. They're the ones with the money and can make it happen.

"Maybe they'll have better luck than we did."

Michael Van Sickler can be reached at (813) 226-3402 or [email protected].

http://www.tampabay.com/news/growth/article523601.ece

I would really like to see this get built, Tampa could use some rasonably priced apartments in DT, and it would be a great place for a building that size....but I will not hold my breath until I see a crane on the site.

It sounds like it will look similar to Novar buildings. That is not a bad thing at all IMO, I like the Novar buildings. I like the retail in the base, that would be great for the area.

Steve