Builder tops off nearly sold-out luxury condo tower

TAMPA — The highly anticipated Virage Bayshore condo tower was officially topped off this week and remains on track for a grand opening in early 2020.

According to a press release, only four of the Bayshore Boulevard project’s 71 residences, which range in price from $1 million to $5 million, remain unsold. To celebrate the topping off of the 24-story building, construction workers planted a small tree at its tallest point, to symbolize luck and prosperity.

“Topping out a tower is always a special moment,” states Jay Tallman, principal of Sarasota-based Ascentia Development Group, which is building Virage in partnership with Batson-Cook Development Co., headquartered in Atlanta. “Buyers have clearly fallen in love with Virage and this special site on Bayshore, and we are so thankful for the support we have had from the community.”

The Virage Bayshore is rising on land formerly occupied by the beloved Colonnade restaurant — a community icon since 1935 that closed in April 2016. It’s one of the first new condo towers to be built on Bayshore Boulevard in decades.

“This project is setting a new standard of luxury and quality, and we are so proud of all our designers, builders, partners and stakeholders who have worked so creatively to bring this iconic tower to life,” Batson-Cook President and CEO Litt Glover states in the release.