Three separate high-rise projects are moving through the planning stages. One calls for twin 27-story towers north of the St. Pete Times Forum. The others are needle-shaped towers more than 500 feet tall east of the city’s Whiting Street parking garage.
The developers received variances Thursday from the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority board, serving in a new role of ruling on tall structures proposed near flight paths to Tampa International and three county general aviation airports. (Click here for complete St Pete Times article)
The downtown Tampa core is not in as bad a shape as some would have you believe. 100 North Tampa is 100% leased. Park Tower is not full, but it is stable. The Wachovia Center is sub-80% occupied, but there is word on the street that the managers are inking a new deal that will will substantially increase the occupancy rate. Two residential condo properties, Element and Skypoint are stabilizing and approaching full occupancy, respectively, albeit developers have added a rental strategy to achieve success. There is a dearth of plain vanilla shell retail in the center core and if the proposed rail initiatives come to fruition, then most certainly we will see more retail projects come to the table in downtown.
Having said all that, I am still dubious about the the wisdom of adding additional residential to the southern end of the core at the present time. It seems to me that activity near the central core where new public transportation is proposed makes more sense. We should bear in mind, though, that just because developers have applied for variances doesn’t mean these projects will ever come to fruition. In the meantime, I will just sit back, wait and enjoy that there are at least some signs of life returning to our marketplace.
New Retail and Residential for Downtown #Tampa?
The downtown Tampa core is not in as bad a shape as some would have you believe. 100 North Tampa is 100% leased. Park Tower is not full, but it is stable. The Wachovia Center is sub-80% occupied, but there is word on the street that the managers are inking a new deal that will will substantially increase the occupancy rate. Two residential condo properties, Element and Skypoint are stabilizing and approaching full occupancy, respectively, albeit developers have added a rental strategy to achieve success. There is a dearth of plain vanilla shell retail in the center core and if the proposed rail initiatives come to fruition, then most certainly we will see more retail projects come to the table in downtown.
Having said all that, I am still dubious about the the wisdom of adding additional residential to the southern end of the core at the present time. It seems to me that activity near the central core where new public transportation is proposed makes more sense. We should bear in mind, though, that just because developers have applied for variances doesn’t mean these projects will ever come to fruition. In the meantime, I will just sit back, wait and enjoy that there are at least some signs of life returning to our marketplace.