TAMPA: On the brink

TAMPA: On the brink

URBAN LIVING by Dave Szymanski | Tampa Bay Editor

While St. Petersburg has blossomed into a downtown living success, Tampa rallies to do the same, but it has to follow a different path

It has the airport, the football team, a hockey arena, the convention center and a major university. It has the more impressive skyline complete with corporate names lit up on office towers.

But compared to its rival across the bay, downtown Tampa still lacks a resilient downtown, teeming with urban residents walking the streets, after 5 p.m. and on weekends.

Business people say that is changing. But don't expect it to change overnight.

"Tampa's got a little ways to go," says Bruce Erhardt, executive director of Cushman & Wakefield of Florida. "It has to get all the condos filled up."

Unlike downtown St. Pete, which has an image as a fun place to be as well as a place to work, downtown Tampa is mainly seen as a place to work, not a place for urban living.

"It's more of a regional business center than St. Pete claims to be," says Marty Normile, former head of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership. "It does seem to recognize the riverfront, parks and the value of the arts."

Can Tampa shed or expand that corporate image?

"I think it will happen," Erhardt says. "It's just a matter of time."

The evidence is there. Skypoint, a new 380-unit condomium tower, is across the street from machines that are demolishing the Tampa Museum of Art. In April, the city will break ground for a new art museum and a children's museum on the same site. Other condo developments are going up blocks away.

In 2007, some of the completed residential developments included Grand Central at Kennedy (392 units), Ventana (82 units) and The Plaza at Harbour Island (182 units).

Some residential projects under construction or scheduled to go under construction this year include The Element (395 units), Trump Tower (190 units), The Slade (280 units), St. Martin (321 units) and Venu (215 units).

Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio is leading a drive to develop a riverwalk, a green pedestrian beltway, along the Hillsborough River downtown. New restaurants, including Red Brick Pizza, the Fly Bar and Restaurant, Malio's Prime Steakhouse, Moxie's Cafe and Gallagher's Steakhouse NYC have opened in the past year.

New stores have opened, too, such as Surf Down Under, Give and Take and LCB Imports. Curtis Hixon Park will be redeveloped by 2009.

"I am a big believer that Tampa is on the verge of being the next great urban environment," says Mickey Jacob, managing principal of Urban Studio Architects in Tampa."

Jacob plans to make an investment himself. In about a year, his children will be out of school. He and his wife would like to move from south Tampa into a smaller place in downtown Tampa or the Channelside District.

"We want to be where the action is," Jacob says. "We want to walk out our door and do all the things I have to drive to do now."

But while Skypoint has enjoyed success, there also have been some stumbles in downtown urban development. Recently, the developers of two condo towers in the Channelside District of downtown filed for protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Like many of the upscale downtown condominium projects that sprouted over the last two years, Towers of Channelside was hailed as an attractive alternative to suburban tract homes and long commutes.

Developers of the twin 29-story buildings believed the units, starting around $275,000, would sell quickly. All 257 condos were presold, requiring 10% deposits before construction was completed this fall. But two-thirds of those buyers never followed through with the sale.

In contrast, Harbour Island, a downtown development just over the bridge, and Davis Islands, another neighbor just a bridge away from downtown, are established success stories in Tampa.

Just up Channelside are the cruise ship terminals and the Florida Aquarium. And further up Channelside and down Adamo Drive is Ybor City.

But what will link all of these areas and bring people out into the streets of downtown? There is talk about extending the streetcar system into other areas of downtown. But funding isn't secured.

To Jacob, the key for developing downtown Tampa into a 24-hour city will be mass transit. Developers are spending money and time to design buildings with parking in them instead of designing efficient, attractive buildings.

Meanwhile, the cost of gasoline has climbed and so has the cost of right of way to build bigger roads.

"Out of the top 25 markets in the United States, only two, Tampa and Detroit, haven't committed to mass transit," Jacob says. "It's a hard issue because you look at the price tag for such a system and then look at our budgets. That's a big number to swallow. But sooner or later we'll have to. We won't be able to survive as a great city."

REVIEW SUMMARY

Industry: Residential and commercial development in urban areas

Key: Tampa needs to attract more residents downtown to encourage more retail and non-corporate businesses