A New Look At Tampa's $3 Billion Project: Water Street Tampa

TAMPA, FL - Strategic Property Partners has released one of the most detailed renderings for its $3 billion project: Water Street Tampa. Strategic Property Partners is a real estate firm backed by Jeff Vinik, owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and Cascade Investment, run by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The site is located on Hillsborough Bay and the Garrison Channel.

In the first phase planned for completion in 2020, many of the construction groundbreakings are expected to start between March and June of 2018. Here are some of the details of the project from SPP:

More than 50 acres in the heart of downtown will become a mixed-use neighborhood that will include 2 million square feet of new office space, including downtown Tampa’s first new office towers in nearly 25 years.

About 3,500 new rental and for-sale residences are planned to nearly double the number of housing units available within downtown Tampa.

Water Street Tampa will be surrounded by existing cultural, entertainment, and community anchors including the Tampa Convention Center, Amalie Arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning play, Tampa Bay History Center, Florida Aquarium, and Tampa Riverwalk. The project will connect these community anchors to a network of new and enhanced public areas.

The project will be designed to be pedestrian-friendly – Water Street Tampa will add 1 million square feet of new retail, cultural, educational, and entertainment space at the street-level, as well as 12.9 acres of new and enhanced park and public gathering places.

Water Street Tampa will host two new hotels with over 650 new rooms, including the city’s first 5-star hotel. A $40 million renovation to the existing Marriott Waterside is also planned.

The University of South Florida will relocate the Morsani College of Medicine and Health Heart Institute to Water Street Tampa, opening to students in the fall of 2019.

Water Street Tampa also will set a new standard for wellness and sustainability as the world’s first WELL-certified community under the WELL Community Standard.

That standard prioritizes design for health and well-being, such as daylighting, outdoor access, and air quality. In addition, new buildings will aim for LEED certification, and the district will include 12.9 acres of parks as well as a waterfront walkway, roughly a quarter of the total area. Several of the buildings will have open rooftops and rooftop gardens.

The first residential component of the Water Street Tampa neighborhood is a rental and for-sale condominium building at the intersection of Water Street and Channelside Drive in downtown Tampa, and serves as the gateway to the Tampa Riverwalk.

Located adjacent to the Amalie Arena and the Tampa Bay History Center, its location is the southern anchor of the neighborhood’s spine, Water Street.

The 21-story rental tower is perpendicular to Channelside Drive, while the 26-story condominium tower is angled towards the water, opening up views of both the waterfront and downtown Tampa.

Designed as sisters, the two towers share a green roof, designed by Miami-based landscape architect, Raymond Jungles, Inc., with shared amenities for residents. A pool for residents will top each tower. The towers’ façade is defined by its exterior terraces, providing views of both the city’s skyline and waterfront while allowing residents to take advantage of the local climate.

Retail, anchored by a full-service grocery store, will line Water Street, Channelside Drive, and the Tampa Riverwalk.

Designed by KPF in partnership with interior design firm Cecconi Simone, the building will break ground in 2018 and open in late 2020.

Caption: A new detailed rendering of Strategic Property Partners' $3 billion project: Water Street Tampa; 2nd image: Situated adjacent to the Tampa Convention Center and Amalie Arena, 10 Water Street features 500 hotel rooms and 126,000 sf of meeting and event space; 3rd image: A rendering of a rental and for-sale condominium building at the intersection of Water Street and Channelside Drive; 4th image: map of area featuring rental/condo building. Images via SPP.