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new downtown tampa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 With cranes in motion high above city blocks, downtown Tampa is changing more rapidly and more significantly than ever before.

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20 years of success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Tampa Downtown Partnership was formed in 1986 to represent real estate development interest. Today, Partnership accomplishments are evident throughout downtown.

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In total, about 40 condo downtown projects are planned, under construction or completed. Many include retail ground floor space and some include office space.

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jphillips@frej.net

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George Byfield, Art Director gbyfield@j2creativegroup.com

Michelle Jerla, Designer mjerla@j2creativegroup.com

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on the move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Downtown’s transportation system is solid, it is constantly improved, and City and business leaders are making sure it will work far into the future.

800.274.2812 www.frej.net

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centrally located, business minded . . . . .15 Today,Tampa’s central business district remains the leading Tampa Bay location for high profile tenants.

Jim Phillips, Group Publisher 150 Third Street, SW, Winter Haven, FL 33880

lofty living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

urban creative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 An estimated three million people visit downtown Tampa each year to enjoy Broadway shows, tour museums, attend concerts and cheer sports teams.

new downtown tampa With cranes in motion high above city blocks, downtown Tampa is changing more rapidly and more significantly than ever before. The growth is unprecedented: Downtown is the site of more than $2.2 billion in proposed and current construction, including thousands of new homes.

A distinct transformation is taking place. Tampa’s status as a drive-to, vertical office district is evolving as new residents begin to re-energize downtown streetscapes. The changes are creating a robust new urban spirit as the city morphs into a round-the-clock, pedestrian-friendly nexus of activity.

The growth is solidifying Tampa’s role as a primary business, government, cultural and entertainment hub in West Central Florida, says Christine Burdick, president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership.“Downtown is becoming a crown jewel in the region, offering a great urban center for Tampa Bay,” says Burdick.

“Five years from now, downtown will be a different place, a very comfortable place, much more walkable and pedestrianfriendly, and much more active,” says Burdick. “At ground level, it will be a gathering place for events and activities of all kinds.

The changes taking place are truly remarkable.”

“Downtown Tampa has a history of being a business and government center,” says Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. “Today, it is transforming into an exciting 24/7 urban center, with both business and residential neighborhoods, sparked by cultural and artistic institutions.”

Numbers tell much of the story: Developers are building and planning about 11,000 new homes in some 40 projects ranging from massive residential condominium towers to re-crafted and restored historic buildings. Tampa’s downtown is poised to become home for 17,000 or more people by decade’s end.

Attendant retail, support and service businesses will blend neatly with a growing number of downtown arts, culture and entertainment venues. Downtown’s gray hues of steel, glass and concrete are increasingly brightened by new structures painted aqua and rose, canary and coral, teal and orange. In addition to elevators, escalators and parking meters, downtown Tampa is sprouting balconies and swimming pools, high-rise patios and night clubs, bustling streets and sparkling retail shops.

One innovative factor in downtown progress is the Tampa Riverwalk. With help from a variety of public and private partners, city government is creating a continuous downtown walkway on the east bank of the beautiful Hillsborough River.

The 2.4-mile Riverwalk will extend from the Channelside area of south downtown, northward through downtown to the Tampa Heights neighborhood (which itself will see massive redevelopment).

Riverwalk includes pedestrian amenities, art and interpretive elements, outdoor restaurants, parks and open spaces, small-scale attractions and other urban amenities. With great views of the amazing architecture of the University of Tampa across the river, Riverwalk also overlooks Hillsborough Bay and the water channels around downtown.

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tampa downtown partnership 5

tampa is rapidly emerging as an exciting prototype,

leading the way for a new generation of American downtowns.

The Riverwalk will help downtown become “everybody’s neighborhood,” says Mayor Iorio.

“Building our Riverwalk signals a transformative time for our city, a time when we recognize the importance of opening up our waterfront to the people, so that they will enjoy a different way to access the many amenities of our downtown,” she says.

The goal is to complete Riverwalk by October 2010, and to complete most of it for the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa. Recent progress includes finishing the MacDill and University of South Florida parks. The $40 million Riverwalk, with 60 percent of funding from the private sector, is 20 percent complete and construction is ongoing.

As a central business district, downtown will remain the most densely populated professional center on Florida’s West Coast: More than 60,000 people commute downtown each workday. Besides new homes, new museums, new public art and new entertainment venues, downtown will also enjoy a new transportation system, one built with pedestrian safety and convenience in mind.

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“Tampa’s downtown is becoming a residential center, and the existing and planned growth makes it imperative that transportation strategies be in place,” says David Mechanik, who chairs the Tampa Downtown Partnership transportation committee. “We’re working hard to make sure downtown’s transportation system works well for everyone.”

Plans include calmed traffic, enhanced parking, redesigned crosswalks and signage, smart landscaping and lighting, and new street furniture and tree-canopy shade. Meanwhile, downtown will continue to attract millions of people annually to events at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, The St. Pete Times Forum, The Florida Aquarium, The Tampa Museum, Tampa Theatre, the 600,000-square-foot Tampa Convention Center and other venues.

Indeed, the city’s largest convention ever was in mid-2006 when 20,000 Shriners and their guests visited and enjoyed Tampa’s hospitality. Overnight visitors to downtown can choose among 2,500 rooms in six full-service hotels.

“Our potential has been elevated by an awakening to our attractiveness as millions more people see us up close, with our beautiful waterfront and all of the activities these venues have created,” says Fred Dobbins, chairman of the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

The bottom line is clear: Tampa is rapidly emerging as an exciting prototype, leading the way for a new generation of American downtowns. I

tampa downtown partnership 7

20 years of outstanding success

tampa downtown partnership

The Partnership helped influence the placement of a number of key downtown components. Among those:

The Florida Aquarium, the

St. Pete Times Forum, and the

Lykes Gaslight Square park.

The Tampa Downtown Partnership was formed in 1986 to represent real estate and development interests. Over time, however, the TDP began playing a much wider, catalyzing role in downtown improvement and revitalization. Today, Partnership accomplishments are evident throughout Tampa’s central business district and greater downtown.

“The Partnership helped influence the placement of a number of key downtown components,” says Christine Burdick, TDP president. Among those projects: The Florida Aquarium, the St. Pete Times Forum, Lykes Gaslight Square park and the Sam Rampello Downtown Partnership School, a public K-8 school primarily for children of downtown employees.

“Bringing people together for diverse input and common action on common goals is what the Partnership has done,” says Fred Dobbins, TDP 2006-2007 chairman. “The fact that millions of people go downtown annually for activities – beyond the 60,000 who work there daily – is proof that the efforts of so many TDP members over the last 20 years are paying off.”

The TDP is a private, not-for-profit 501 (c) 6 organization that promotes downtown through marketing, business development, transportation improvement and beautification. The Partnership has about 130 member employers with more than 50,000 employees.

Members include international corporations, locally owned businesses, civic organizations, government agencies, downtown property owners, and arts and cultural institutions. TDP leaders also help protect the interests of the broader range of stakeholders – downtown’s millions of visitors and a residential population that could near 20,000 in a few years.

Since the early 1990s, TDP transportation management staff has worked to encourage ridesharing and to resolve parking, transportation and transit issues. Since 1994, the TDP has administered a Special Services District under contract with the City. Funded by a special assessment on downtown properties, the assessment ($1.10 per $1,000 in property value) provides more than $1.1 million annually for various services.

The TDP “Clean Team” removes litter and debris from streets, maintains gutters and sidewalks, and pressure-washes streets and sidewalks. The Downtown Guide program serves as on-street concierge – the Guides fix flat tires, jump dead batteries, give directions, make restaurant suggestions and patrol the heart of downtown, elevating security.

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The TDP is a private, not-for-profit 501 (c) 6 organization that promotes downtown through

marketing, business development, transportation improvement and

beautification.

Christine Burdick, Tampa Downtown Partnership president

Fred Dobbins, Tampa Downtown Partnership chairman 9

The vision: To remake North Franklin as an urban entertainment district, complete with nightclubs and trendy restaurants.

“Our Downtown Guides and the Clean Team have made Tampa’s downtown a very safe and inviting place to be,” says Dobbins. Other Partnership services include security and beautification programs, urban planning and design, and business development and marketing.

“Downtown 360” is downtown developments studio where potential investors can learn about changes taking shape downtown. Downtown 360 is a click away on the TDP website, and Downtown 360’s physical location changes periodically – it occupies otherwise vacant, donated space until the space is leased, then relocates.

TDP staffers benchmark the best practices of other successful downtowns and create new initiatives, while partnership committees help generate ideas and shape policy for downtown. Standing TDP committees include Arts & Culture, Planning & Management, Residential, and Transportation. Each deals with weighty issues.

The Residential Committee, for example, is focused on pursuing affordable workforce housing. Residential Committee Chairman Chuck Davis says the group, with

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City input, is studying numerous potential solutions: From zoning changes to tax abatement programs to creative financing solutions and incentives.

TDP Transportation Committee meetings are busy events, says David Mechanik, chairman. “Just a few years ago, our meetings were attended by a few diehard transportation policy wonks,” he says. “Today, we fill up a large meeting room with property owners, restaurateurs, developers, and City, Hillsborough County and Hillsborough Area Regional Transit staff, and Department of Transportation representatives. Everyone wants to know what’s going on with transportation and parking.”

“Transportation enhancements downtown will create pedestrian friendliness.We are seeing some real innovative thinking, a new way of looking at things,” says Burdick.

“Transportation issues are different at different hours of night and day, and we are preparing for that, as well.”

“We need to make sure that as people move from ‘visitor’ to ‘resident’ that we have a friendly, walkable city with convenient in-town transit which flows smoothly into a more advanced regional multi-modal transportation network,” adds Dobbins.

Arts & Culture and Planning & Management committees are both focused on downtown retail. That emphasis was fomented in part by Tampa’s Downtown Vision & Action Plan for future growth. The strategic plan was completed in early 2005 after input from all sectors of downtown shareholders.

The plan urges pursuit of housing for a mix of incomes, new infusions of art and culture, new public parks, continued development of the exciting Tampa Riverwalk project, and redevelopment of options for downtown historic buildings.

And, of course, retail.

“There’s an old saying in business: Retail follows residential.

We are seeing a resurgence of evening restaurant activity, and that is the tip of a trend that we think will have significant momentum over the next several years,” says Dobbins. “The TDP will help facilitate that expansion, just as we did for locating major performance and entertainment venues and residential development.”

“We know that retail businesses will have terrific interest in downtown Tampa as the residential population grows,” says Burdick. “Eventually, national retailers will be attracted by the strength of the market.”

In the interim, says Burdick,“we want to encourage preliminary retail and help jump start that process.” Thus, the Partnership maintains a database of existing ground floor space, including details on the condition and availability of space. The data is available to retailers.

Of particularly interest is helping local businesses people spark activity in the North Franklin Street area. The vision: To remake North Franklin as an urban entertainment district, complete with nightclubs and trendy restaurants – and that vision is already coming true, with several new eateries planned or opening in recent months.

TDP marketing includes numerous print and Internet newsletters, guides, directories, updates and alerts. Beautification efforts range from public art programs to street planters.

On the TDP website, there is a vast amount of stored and real-time information. The TDP partnered with CB Richard Ellis to produce an interactive Downtown Condo Residential Map, where visitors can click onto condo projects for the latest information. The same team produced a click-on Downtown Tampa Parking Map, which is regularly updated with vacancy and other information.

The Partnership also hosts numerous events, including annual luncheon meetings, regular downtown development forums and monthly downtown debriefings. And the Partnership’s overall goal is clear: Creating and maintaining a wonderful downtown by seeking improvements day after day.

“Tampa is a very sophisticated community. People here realize what a great jewel they have in downtown, and as they help to polish that jewel, it’s a great process,” says Burdick. “Tampa is lucky enough, intelligent enough to have a great downtown, and the community deserves to make downtown Tampa a new best place.” I

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lofty living condominium development As he was deciding where to live in downtown Tampa, Randy Powers had a sky-high advantage – he pilots SkyFox, the newsgathering helicopter of Bay Area television station WTVT. One day, Powers circled SkyFox above downtown and then hovered at various levels, checking the views south over Hillsborough Bay, north toward Carrollwood, east over the Port of Tampa.

Powers knew that downtown made sense for him. He needed to stay near Davis Islands, where he’s lived since 1999 and where SkyFox is based at Peter O’Knight Airport. Financially, downtown added up, too. His 1950s-era home would have needed a lot of costly fix-ups, and new suburban homes are now so expensive.

Besides, Powers liked what he saw developing downtown.Tampa is becoming an exciting 24-hour city, with nightclubs and restaurants, arts, cultural and sports venues, plus public amenities such as the Tampa Riverwalk on the Hillsborough River. With thousands of new residents moving in, retail will follow. In short, downtown Tampa is a hot housing market.

So Powers made his choice: An 11th-floor, two-bedroom condo in Grand Central at Kennedy. He moves in early in 2007 to Grand Central East, the first of two buildings in the 392-unit project. From his new home, Powers will have a great view northward, overlooking Tampa’s inland tree canopy.

Located in downtown’s Channel District, Grand Central has 106,000 square feet dedicated to retail – plenty of room for an eventual grocery store. And, like most downtown condo towers, there are lots of amenities: Two pools, an art gallery, even a 6,500-square-foot space to house a Tampa non-profit community group, Stageworks Theater Co. “With the growth pattern in Hillsborough County, you’ve seen land prices over the past few years go crazy,” says Ken Stoltenberg, director for Mercury Advisors, the developer of Grand Central.“Living downtown is just kind of an extension of the tremendous demand you see in South Tampa and Hyde Park. And for downtown employees, it means a lot less commuting time, obviously.”

Grand Central sold out long ago, and Stoltenberg says a typical buyer is about 35, unmarried, a professional with an income above $75,000. The demand has Mercury Advisors opening a sales office in late 2006 for their next project, The Martin, a 22-story, 321-unit on East Twiggs Street, which will include a small park.

In total, about 40 condo downtown projects are planned, under construction or completed. Many include retail ground floor space and some include office space. By mid-2006, nearly 700 condo units were complete, more than 2,200 were under construction and nearly 8,000 more were in planning stages. And more projects are often announced – for instance, Vancouver Acquisitions Corp. in late July, 2006 announced plans for a 36-story, 369-unit condo tower at 602 E. Cass St. Downtown could have 17,000 or more residents by the end of the decade.

“From Channelside to North Franklin Street, downtown Tampa continues to take shape as a growing residential community,” says Mayor Pam Iorio. “The amount of residential building in our downtown core is truly remarkable. It is the beginning of a new identity for our downtown.”

“Many people are now seeing Tampa’s downtown as a destination for enjoyment beyond work,” says Fred Dobbins, the 2006-2007 chairman of the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

“People come here for many reasons. Downtown has one of the top five performing arts venues in the U.S. on the north end with the Tampa

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Bay Performing Arts Center, and to the south there is one of the world’s top drawing concert and sports venues, the St. Pete Times Forum,” says Dobbins.

Group and Tampa’s InTown Group. Novare-InTown built the Meridian and has three other downtown condo projects in the works.

Tampa Riverwalk is a 2.4-mile pedestrian walkway being built on the east bank of the Hillsborough River. From Channelside to Tampa Heights, Riverwalk will have artwork, restaurants, parks and open spaces, small-scale attractions and other pedestrian amenities, and the completion goal is 2010. Another key attraction is Channelside, a massive entertainment and shopping complex in south downtown.

SkyPoint, billed as a mid-priced condo tower, will have 380 units in 32 floors featuring floor-to-ceiling exterior glass windows, granite bath and kitchen countertops, broadband Internet building-wide, 24-hour concierge, an elevated outdoor terrace with grilling areas, an outdoor pool and other amenities.

The downtown residential boom was sparked in the Channel District, a former industrial/warehouse zone. The first project was Channelside 212 Lofts, between Washington Street and Kennedy Boulevard on the east side of 12th Street. The first phase of the 28-unit loft project, which rebuilt two warehouses, was completed in 2002 – and sold out in two months.

Following Channelside 212 Lofts, 89-unit Victory Lofts was completed late in 2004. Also complete in Channelside is The Meridian, an art deco-style, 37-unit project. Another Channel District project is Ventana at Kennedy Boulevard and Channelside Drive, next to Grand Central, slated to open early in 2007.

There’s more: The first building of two in the Towers of Channelside, across from the Channelside entertainment complex, should open in mid-2007. Both of the 29-story towers, which total 257 units, are sold out, a familiar story downtown.

In downtown’s central business district, groundbreaking for 52-story, $260 million Trump Tower Tampa was held in March 2006. The sold out luxury tower on the Hillsborough River in southwest downtown will be the tallest residential building on the U.S. Gulf Coast and Tampa’s tallest building. It will have 192 condo and penthouse units, from about 2,000 to more than 6,000 square feet, priced from $700,000 to $6 million-plus. The 1.5-acre site includes a 450-feet section of the Tampa Riverwalk.

In the heart of downtown, the sold out SkyPoint project is bordered by Ashley Drive and Zack, Tampa and Polk Streets.

SkyPoint is a joint venture between Atlanta-based Novare

“Our business plan is centered around the person who gets up every day and goes to work,” says InTown President Greg Minder. “The Bay Area used to be a destination for retirees, for empty-nesters and for support services for that sector, and for the hospitality industry, as well. Now, that’s changing.”

“We’re getting younger baby boomer retirees, people who are more affluent, and also we’re getting more affluent younger people in the region. That younger group is more likely to buy in urban neighborhoods, close to where they work and play.”

Those buyers are “looking for quality in their social life,” says Minder, and Tampa offers just that.

On the north end of downtown, Art Center Lofts was a pioneer project, opening in 2004. The 42-unit condo is on the Hillsborough River, next to the Tampa Performing Arts Center on Doyle Carlton Drive.

Meanwhile, projects in the North Franklin Street district vary greatly. They include: Four-unit Franklin Street City Lofts, where construction began in mid-2006; the Arlington, a former historic hotel with 21 residential and office condos, which opened in 2006; the 40-unit, seven-floor Residences of Franklin Street, near completion in mid-2006; and an 18-unit project planned for four floors at Franklin and Fortune streets.

Adding to the emerging neighborhood’s energy and spearheading retail/restaurant development is Fly Bar & Restaurant, a late-night eatery that has done strong business since opening in July 2006. Run by Tampa native and veteran restaurateur Leslie Shirah, Fly is in a revamped 1923 building.The 4,000-square-foot Fly seats 150 people, and patrons can roam upstairs to a rooftop deck “with a cool view of downtown,” says Shirah.

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tampa downtown partnership 13

Shirah sensed north downtown’s potential during a late 2004 visit from San Francisco, where she also owns restaurants. “I felt like this area was happening, that there was an energy about North Franklin. People like me gotta come back and make it happen,” she says. Meanwhile, Shirah’s father, Harry Hedges, is a developer and he plans The Royal nearby. The Royal, a $68 million, 182-unit project, is envisioned for 27 floors at Franklin and Harrison streets.

The beat goes on. A mega-project calls for nearly 1,000 condo units to be redeveloped from former department stores at the 800 block of North Franklin Street. On the 600 block of North Franklin, another large condo project is planned by Wood Partners: 33 stories and 500-plus units, plus ground floor retail.Wood Partners is also building a 350-unit condo building a few blocks west of the central business district on Kennedy Boulevard.

Also in north downtown, just north of the high-rise federal courthouse, the historic, 19-floor The Floridan Hotel is being reborn. Developer Antonios Markopoulos paid $6 million for the property on Florida Avenue and is spending $14 million to create an upscale boutique hotel with 194 rooms, 16 suites, two penthouses and a swimming pool atop a new parking garage. Construction should be complete in 2008.

Immediately north of The Floridan, developer Haim Einhorn has plans for a major condo tower with retail space on the ground floor.Tampa

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City Lofts was originally slated to be a 479-foot tower with 250 condos, plus retail space; Einhorn’s plans are being scaled back somewhat.

Among other completed condos is the $36 million Parkside at One Bayshore.The 17-story, 104-unit condo is west of the Tampa Convention Center, at Platt Street and Bayshore Boulevard, the beautiful gateway road to downtown from South Tampa. South of downtown, on the northern edge of Harbour Island, nine-story, 336-unit ParkCrest opened in 2005.

Besides in-town residential development, major new projects are planned nearby in Central Park and Tampa Heights; north of downtown, Tampa Heights is home to Stetson University’s College of Law campus.

The Downtown West area across the Hillsborough River has new University of Tampa dormitories and residential development.

Also important is development of affordable workforce housing downtown. Potential solutions range from zoning changes to tax abatement programs to creative financing solutions and incentives. Both public officials and private sector leaders are working to bring affordable housing downtown.

In short, Tampa’s downtown is quickly becoming a new residential center, while continuing to serve as the thriving business center of the region. I

centrally located, business minded

commercial office space

For the better part of a century, Tampa’s downtown has been the West Central Florida location of choice for large law firms and the regional headquarters for several banks. Downtown Tampa has been home for major accounting, consulting, financial, insurance and real estate companies, and for many other successful large and small businesses.

Today, Tampa’s central business district – now also home for a variety of top technology outfits – remains the leading Tampa Bay location for high profile tenants. It is the most densely populated office district in the region, with more than 60,000 workers downtown every weekday.

Downtown Tampa has nearly 6.8 million square feet of leasable space in some 50 downtown buildings, plus government buildings, small structures and non-leased buildings.The downtown vacancy rate was 18.6 percent at mid-2006 and the average lease asking rate was $19.41, according to CB Richard Ellis.

Downtown office space is less costly than space in the Westshore business district around Tampa International Airport or in downtown St. Petersburg.

Those low leasing costs were important to Ryan Shoars, a director of Greystone Servicing Corp.

4,500 square feet by late 2006, making room for about 18 employees. Downtown Tampa’s excellent location in middle of the Tampa Bay region is a plus when it comes to hiring quality employees, says Shoars.

Downtown Tampa has nearly

“Downtown is a great central area to be in. We have people from St. Petersburg, Oldsmar, Riverview and New Tampa. Downtown is only about 30 minutes away for everyone’s home,” says Shoars. Interstates 4 and 275 converge in north downtown, and the Crosstown Expressway serves downtown from the east and south. Shoars also likes the fact that Tampa International Airport is a short drive west on I-275 from his office.

square feet of leasable space in some 50 downtown buildings.

6.8 million

There are other advantages, too. “I like being able to walk places – to restaurants, to the bank – whenever you want to,” says Shoars. “Downtown, I’m able to do that easily. It’s pedestrian friendly.” And, he says, with downtown’s increasing number of residents, restaurants, shops and entertainment venues, Tampa’s business center will soon become a true 24-hour city.

“In the long term, it’s going to be really nice to be here,” says Shoars.

Shoars, whose Tampa office provides permanent lending for affordable housing, leased 1,700 square feet in Fifth Third Center late in 2005. “The price was very good.

Compared to Westshore, I saved about $10 a square foot,” says Shoars.

In Tampa’s emerging new downtown, “we will be able to develop better personal relationships through entertainment, at lunch, at after-hours get-togethers, and so on,” says Ray Sandelli, Florida senior managing director for CB Richard Ellis. “That will help to bring people together on both a personal and a professional basis.”

Growing to eight employees in a few months, Shoars needed more room. So Greystone will expand to

Anne-Marie Ayers, brokerage VP and sales professional with CB Richard Ellis, cites other advantages. “With Continued on Page 16

tampa downtown partnership 15

buildings in close proximity, there’s a real community of business people and constant interaction,” Ayers says. “In the suburban market, there’s no such interaction. Here, you can market yourself as you’re walking down the street.”

Downtown also has what Ayers terms “fabulous luncheon clubs, which offer a great way to show business people downtown from up high, to see the great water views we enjoy here.”

With federal, state and local courts downtown, the district offers distinct advantages to the legal community, notes Ayers.Also, the new home of the Hillsborough County Bar Foundation and the Hillsborough County Bar Association, the Ferguson Law Center, is being built adjacent to the Stetson University College of Law just north of downtown. In fact, anyone who regularly interacts with government at any level considers a downtown office a major convenience.

No new office towers have been built since the early 1990s, but a new trend is adding office space on a smaller scale: Several downtown reconstruction projects include office condominiums. One example is called “514,” at 514 North Franklin St. in north downtown.

“We are developing both office condominium units and retail condos,” says Abbey Dohring, real estate agent & VP of brokerage and development with The Dohring Group. The Dohring family is behind the

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20,000-square-foot project at the site of a former Walgreen’s drugstore.

The 514 building will have 13 condos in all: six retail condos, all on the ground floor, and seven office condos on the second floor. At $250 per square foot or more, about half the building has been contracted for sale, says Dohring: Two eateries on the ground floor, and mortgage, insurance and technology companies on the second floor.

Another downtown advantage is that there are nine downtown hotels, including six full-service properties provide travelers with 2,500 room choices.The largest full-service facility is the Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina, near the Tampa Convention Center, with 717 rooms, 50,000 square feet of meeting space and three restaurants.

The Westin Tampa Harbour Island offers 299 rooms just south of downtown on Harbour Island. The 360-room Embassy Suites Hotel in south downtown is connected to the 600,000-square-foot Tampa Convention Center via a sky bridge.

The 277-room Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk Hotel, located on the Hillsborough River, underwent a major upgrade recently. The 521-room Hyatt Regency Tampa is in the heart of the central business district, and the 316-room Ashley Plaza Hotel is in north downtown near the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. The Residence Inn and Courtyard, both by Marriott, and the University Inn also offer places for visitors to stay while in Tampa. I

On the Move transportation

Transportation in and around downtown Tampa can be summed up fast: Many cities would love to have it so good.

Downtown’s transportation system is solid, it is constantly improved, and City and business leaders are making sure it will work far into the future.

“In a sense, the transportation issues we are facing are good problems to have,” says David Mechanik, who chairs the Tampa Downtown Partnership transportation committee. “Not too many years ago, the biggest problem we had was getting our nine-to-five workers in and out of downtown as quickly as possible.”

Thanks to recent Interstate and Expressway upgrades, those issues are largely resolved. For instance, the $81 million, four-year, I-275/I-4 interchange project just north of downtown is complete. Once mocked as the “malfunction junction,” traffic on the massive interchange now flows smoothly on four wide lanes in each direction.

“It’s a dramatic improvement,” says Florida Department of Transportation spokesman John McShaffrey. “It’s everything we hoped it would be. Cars go through there at 60 miles per hour at rush hour.” Downtown Interstate exits and entrances are likewise improved.

The widening of I-4 east of downtown through Ybor City to 50th Street is a $162 million project slated to wrap up in 2007. Meanwhile, widening of I-275 west of downtown is out to bid and could begin in 2007, says McShaffrey.

New elevated lanes of the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway opened in mid-2006 after nearly four years of work and $450 million. The reversible lanes link downtown east to Brandon, providing a 60-foot-high, speedy option for commuters – the elevated lanes are westbound in the morning and eastbound in the afternoon.

With downtown’s lively residential future, new in-town strategies are now the high-priority items, Mechanic notes.

Those plans are being crafted and implemented regularly. For instance, the City has launched a study specifically to address transportation and parking issues associated with thousands of arriving residents. “It is our responsibility to make the streets more pedestrian-friendly,” says Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.

Indeed, pedestrian-friendliness is the overarching goal for Tampa’s new downtown – the watchwords are walkability, safety and convenience. New “countdown” and audible crosswalk signals are located at key intersections. Attractive and very visible brick-paver crosswalks are being installed, helping to alert motorists to pedestrians. Tampa’s police officers are cracking down on blatant jaywalkers (at $76.50 per ticket) and downtown drivers who don’t yield to pedestrians.

Streets like Ashley Drive are being redesigned for calmed in-town traffic, pedestrian safety and beauty. Ashley, downtown’s major Interstate gateway, will have enhanced streetscaping and good linkage to the new downtown Riverwalk. Other goals are to improve pedestrian accessibility and crossing access, and increase the shade tree canopy. Design work has begun on Ashley, and other major roads will follow.

Several east-west, one-way streets are being converted to two-way. This will improve traffic efficiency and pedestrian friendliness, with enhanced crosswalks, signage and landscaping.

Madison Street is complete,Twiggs Street is being reconfigured in 2006-07, and three other streets are to follow.

When completed, Tampa’s “healthier” streets will help downtown folks celebrate public space and public life and help create a festive atmosphere and person-to-person connectivity.

Leaders are working to improve the public’s ability to navigate downtown:Various downtown areas may be officially Continued on Page 18

tampa downtown partnership 17

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) serves downtown with

17 local bus routes and

13 commuter express routes.

“branded” to reflect their identities and locations – the Channel District, City Center, the Courthouse District, the River/Arts District and so on.

Downtown will soon have a new signage system, including new wayfaring, public parking and pedestrian-level signs.

Coordinated by the Tampa Downtown Partnership and involving several government levels, the aim is to reduce visual clutter, provide additional vital information, ease congestion and promote walking and mass transit. New signs will have a consistent image, be sustainable and expandable, and will likely be fabricated, installed and maintained by the City.

Meanwhile, Bay Area Commuter Services helps hundreds of downtown commuters with free matching for carpools and vanpools, and other transportation options. For drivers, there are more than 22,000 downtown public and private parking spaces in dozens of garages and on surface lots; all public garages have hourly rates available.

On-street metered spaces will likely increase from the current 2,000 if traffic calming closes current lanes; more spaces will become available if 45-degree street parking is enacted.The City is exploring card-payment in meters that control multiple spaces, a development that would help open sidewalks for street furniture, tree wells and other amenities.

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) serves downtown with 17 local bus routes and 13 commuter express routes. Marion Street Transit Center is HART’s downtown hub, serving 10,000 patrons every weekday. HART’s two In-Town Trolley routes have a fleet of seven rubber-tire trolleys carrying riders around the downtown core seven days a week.

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Also downtown is the TECO Line Streetcar System. Jointly owned by the City and HART under non-profit Tampa Historic Streetcar Inc., the heritage streetcars run on 2.3 miles of track – from south downtown through the Channel District to Ybor City. HART in mid-2006 approved a $200,000 study to consider a four-block track extension to Whiting Street in the downtown core. Some $800 million of new growth, mostly residential, has taken place in the streetcar corridor since the service began in late 2002.

All HART busses and In-Town Trolleys have bike racks – bicyclists can bus in, pedal to any of 60 public bike racks downtown, secure their bikes and stroll to their jobs.There are also 14 bike lanes and trails in place or planned downtown.

Future options abound. Car sharing, a local trend in some California metropolitan areas, could make its way to Tampa’s downtown in coming years, officials believe. Another potential is ferry transport between downtown and St. Petersburg or South Hillsborough’s Apollo Beach, for instance.

Several plans have been floated to create an in-county light rail system, and there are also plans to create city-to-city commuter rail.

Those would both likely include stops at a proposed intermodal center, likely in the northern downtown area. There is also a growing movement to create a multi-county transportation organization, akin to regional water use and planning organization.

Meanwhile, as Mechanik says, leaders are already thinking carefully about downtown Tampa’s future transportation needs: “The Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Downtown Transportation Vision Plan will provide guidance for future transportation decisions to achieve a balanced network to serve all modes of travel, including ways to make downtown more pedestrian friendly,” says Mechanik. I

urban creative

it’s boom time for downtown’s arts and entertainment scenes

Downtown Tampa has an astounding array of arts, cultural and entertainment venues and events, and area residents and visitors clearly enjoy the eclectic mix of offerings: An estimated three million people visit downtown Tampa each year to enjoy Broadway shows, tour museums, attend concerts and cheer sports teams. With millions of dollars in arts/entertainment venue spending on the horizon, attendance numbers will grow, benefiting restaurants and other support industries, officials say.

“Few places in the country have the variety and the depth we have in downtown Tampa,” says Michael Kilgore, vice president for marketing for the 20-year-old Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (TBPAC) on downtown’s Riverwalk.

Located in the emerging River/Arts district in north downtown, the 300,000-square-feet TBPAC complex is the largest U.S. performing arts center south of the Kennedy Center. The newest addition is the 45,000-square-foot Dr. Pallavi Patel Performing Arts Conservatory, opened late in 2004.

TBPAC has five theaters ranging from 250 seats to 2,600, and “it’s not uncommon to have all five theaters going at the same time,” says Kilgore. Sellouts are common, too: TBPAC draws more than 800,000 patrons each year to 700-plus events, an economic impact of more than $93 million.

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Carol Morsani Hall is ranked fourth

in the world

The Carol Morsani Hall is ranked fourth in the world for 5,000-seat venues, and TBPAC is the top grossing one-week touring Broadway market. The 2006-2007 TBPAC SunTrust Broadway season includes shows with 53 Tony Award nominations: Monty Python’s Spamalot, The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee, Doubt and a returning Wicked, among others.

for 5,000-seat venues, and TBPAC is the

This season is “perhaps the best Broadway season at the Center,” said Judy Lisi, TBPAC president. “We can get these huge hits as soon as they go on tour because of our record-breaking audiences. Producers love to bring their shows here.”

one-week touring Broadway market.

Meanwhile, the St. Pete Times Forum in south downtown’s Channel District lives up to its motto as “Florida’s Premier Sports and Entertainment Destination.” The 660,000-square-foot Forum seats up to 21,500 for stage events and has 80 luxury suites.

top grossing

Home to the National Hockey League 2004 Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning, the Forum is also home for Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League. Other events range from Sesame Street Live to top rock acts, from pro wrestling to rodeo, from ice shows to boxing matches, from the circus to motorcycle ice racing.

“Since opening in October 1996, the Forum has often finished the year among the top five venues in the country for ticket sales for events,” says Ron Campbell, Forum and Lightning president. “We host events over 300 days a year – about 150 ticketed events and 150 or more days of events to support the community.” The Forum has been key in boosting development in the Channel District, notes Campbell: Property there has tripled in value, to more than $1 billion, since the Forum was built.

Another spur for Channel District growth is The Florida Aquarium.The 200,000-square-foot aquarium features more than 10,000 aquatic plants and animals, and blends education, entertainment and business successfully:The aquarium has about 630,000 visitors per year.

There are scores of private art galleries in and around downtown – the Channel District alone has about 30 artists’ studios – and there is strong official support for the arts. “Tampa’s arts and cultural institutions strengthen our local economy by bringing innovative and creative industries to our city,” says Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, who views creative industry as a top priority.

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The Tampa Museum of Art downtown on the Riverwalk attracts 70,000 visitors annually and features a permanent collection of 20th-century and contemporary art, and Greek and Roman antiquities. Changing exhibitions include classical and contemporary shows, complemented by a wide range of classes, seminars and children’s activities.

Iorio plans to relocate the 37-year-old Tampa Museum of Art to a new, 65,000-square-foot facility, also on the Riverwalk, adjacent to the planned new 45,000-square-foot Children’s Museum of Tampa. Located next to Kiley Gardens park, Tampa’s bright new “museum row” will be a flagship location – the reconstructed park will host large-scale cultural activities, such as Florida Orchestra concerts.

“It will be the center of the cultural arts district,” says Paul Wilborn, manager of the City’s Creative Industries office, the first such municipal office in the country. Part of the City’s Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Creative Industries office works to promote the arts, to link art and commerce, to attract talent and to promote cultural tourism.

The City’s Public Art Program locates artworks at downtown plazas and municipal buildings, across cityscapes and within parks. Indeed, more than 100 City public outdoor artworks span Tampa. Examples include artist Mike Mandel’s “Parking At the Courthouse,” a 145-foot-long ceramic tile mural at the Tampa Police Department Parking Garage, with archived historic photos digitized and translated into tile.

In south downtown’s Contanchobee Park on the Riverwalk, ceramist Peter King’s work is integrated into seat walls through sculptural relief to represent historical elements of the site and other downtown Tampa areas.

South of downtown on Tampa’s signature, 7.5-mile Bayshore Boulevard, several artists’ works are on display in a variety of media.

The downtown Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, one of the country’s premier outdoor art events, takes place annually in Tampa’s brilliant early-March weather. Besides distinguished jurors, prize money of about $65,000 is significant in attracting top international artists: Of 1,000 or more entries, about 300 are accepted for the street event, slated March 3-4 in 2007.

Tampa Theatre, celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2006, is decorated in ornate Florida Mediterranean style. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Tampa Theatre attracts 150,000 people each year with independent and foreign films, concerts and special events.

There are numerous other arts, culture and entertainment venues and outlets in downtown, such as the Henry B. Plant Museum at the University of Tampa and art galleries across the Hillsborough River in the district known as Downtown West.

Linking arts and business is the downtown-based Tampa Bay Business Committee for the Art, founded in 1989. “We serve as a connection between arts and business, we encourage both sides to work with each other,” says Melinda Chavez,TBBCA executive director.

TBBCA is the sole Florida affiliate of the national Business Committee for the Arts. Besides encouraging arts investment in both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, the TBBCA assists members in maximizing financial and in-kind allocations to the arts.

Those investments that are paying off in a huge way, according to a 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC study. In 2004, 5.6 million people attended plays, musical performances, museum exhibits and other cultural institutions around Tampa Bay, creating an economic impact of $521.3 million, including direct spending of $270.3 million and support for 7,800 jobs. I 21

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