6M-square-foot Ybor City waterfront project picks up first key approval

The Tampa City Council approved the rezoning and a comprehensive plan amendment for a 33-acre mixed-use project Thursday night, the first step in turning developer Darryl Shaw’s vision for transforming the waterfront near Ybor City into a reality.

The votes were the first of two that the City Council will take on the items. The rezoning passed unanimously, and the amendment passed 6 to 1.

The second pair of votes are scheduled for May 2, a spokesperson for the project says.

According to a Thursday night statement from the developers following the vote, the project will bring 6 million square feet of new development to a section of the waterfront near Ybor City that gets little use now. The development will include 500,000 square feet of office space, 800 hotel rooms and more than 150,000 square feet of ground floor retail space.

It will also include 4,750 residential units, 10% of which will be set aside for affordable housing.

The property surrounds the Ybor Channel just south of Adamo Drive.

The project is called Ybor Harbor and is championed by Shaw — also the brainchild behind the massive GasWorx redevelopment underway in Ybor City. That project is expected to bring 5,000 new residences as well as 500,000 square feet of office space and more than 140,000 square feet of retail to the area.

Shaw, in the statement, says Ybor Harbor will be a “crucial bridge connecting Tampa's vibrant downtown neighborhoods from Ybor City and Gas Worx to Water Street and our downtown core.”

Along with the construction, the plan also calls for opening up some of the waterfront that is now restricted. The statement says the “activation” includes at least 100,000 square feet of open space with a boardwalk lined with restaurant and retailers, piers, boat slips, floating docks and green space.