Tampa groups give awards, establish leaders

The Tampa Downtown Partnership has honored a transformative real estate development with a pair of awards for enhancing the city’s urban core.

Water Street Tampa, a $3 billion joint venture between Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates and investor and Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik on 58 acres, received the “Landmark Development Project” award for the $150 million USF Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute building and the 26-story JW Marriott Hotel, which debuted last year.

Water Street’s mixed-use Sparkman Wharf office and retail hub, a former IMAX Theater and shopping center, received the “Activating Spaces” award from the group.

In all, the partnership gave out 10 “2021 Urban Excellence” awards last month in a ceremony at the David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts.

“Each recipient has helped create the energy, excitement, and environment that has made our downtown such a desirable place to live, work, and play," says Tampa Downtown Partnership President and CEO Lynda Remund, in a statement.

She adds the award winners have “helped transform downtown into the thriving destination and economic driver it is today."

The Westshore Alliance, meanwhile, has named veteran commercial real estate professional Patrick Kelly to be president of its board for 2021.

The group, with more than 400 business and community members, works to promote and enhance the Westshore Business District in suburban Tampa.

Kelly, who has four decades of CRE experience working with Franklin Street, Redstone Commercial, Grubb & Ellis and Vantage Cos., was a founding member of the alliance in 1983. He has also worked on some of Westshore’s most prominent office and mixed-use projects.

“Westshore has experienced incredible growth over the years, going from an office district to what is now a nationally known hub for high-quality retail, dining, entertainment and hospitality, as well as an increasingly popular place to live,” Kelly says, in a statement.

Kelly says the group’s focus throughout 2021 will be to improve connectivity and walkability and advocate for better transportation infrastructure.

The district is home to more than 4,000 businesses, over 250 restaurants, 350 retail stores, 7,000 hotels rooms and 15,000 residents. There are also more than two dozen new projects underway with a total investment exceeding $1 billion.

In addition to Kelly, a regional managing partner at Franklin Street, a pair of other area real estate executives have been named to the group’s executive committee.

Andrew Wright, Franklin Street’s CEO, and Cousins Properties’ Patrick Gehm are two of nine executive committee members for the next year.