TAMPA — Developers broke ground Wednesday on another high-rise apartment tower, this one on Harbour Island.
“This will be a radically different skyline over the next five years,” Mayor Bob Buckhorn said.
In addition to Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik’s plans for 24 acres around Amalie Arena that could include a medical school building for the University of South Florida, Buckhorn said he expects five new residential towers to be completed or under construction around downtown over the next 12 months.
“We want to create that 18-hour environment,” he said. “We want the retail. We want the residential. We want the jobs to be relocated right here in the urban core.”
A team of three well-known Tampa developers — Robert Moreyra of Forge Capital Partners, Greg Minder of the Intown Group and Phillip Smith of the Framework Group — is building the 21-story tower at Knights Run Avenue and S Beneficial Drive.
Expected to be complete in early 2016, the tower will have a mix of 235 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, and two-story townhouses. It will have a pool on the fourth floor and a seven-level, 414-space parking garage topped by a dog park and other amenities.
The tower is rising on the east side of the 20-story Plaza Harbour Island condominium. On the west side, the Related Group, based in Miami, is pursuing plans for a tower with 340 apartments. But a group of residents concerned about traffic has hired an attorney to challenge to the plan, which includes a sky bridge to parking in the neighboring Two Harbour Place garage.
The attorney filed a challenge last month. The challenge went to a hearing officer, who is scheduled to render a recommended order to the City Council this month.
Work starts on 21-story Harbour Island apartment tower 11/05/14 [Last modified: Wednesday, November 5, 2014 6:36pm]