Lightning owner strikes bold vision

TAMPA — Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has laid out his $1 billion vision for redeveloping a 40-acre waterfront area of Channelside in downtown Tampa.

While final details are still being worked out, Vinik says the goal is to create an “18-hour-a-day” walkable live-work-play neighborhood. Vinik's development team has launched the website tampawaterfront2020.com to attract public input.

Vinik already owns or controls much of the downtown property near Channelside, including the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina, through his development firm Strategic Property Partners LLC. The waterfront property he plans to redevelop, through five phases that could last a decade, is south of the Crosstown Expressway to Garrison Channel. Work could begin next summer.

The much-anticipated project includes a hospitality piece; medical education component tied to the University of South Florida; office buildings; high-rise and low-rise residential; a retail/entertainment area west of the Amalie Arena; and a second retail area near the water mainly to serve local residents. The hospitality portion will include improvements to the 14-year-old Marriott and development of a 400-room hotel with more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space.

The project could also include up to 1.1 million square feet of office space; 660,000 square feet of residential space; 575,000 square feet of hotel/meeting space; 330,000-square-feet for USF; 250,000 square feet of retail; and 5,000 new spaces in parking garages.