north downtown’s new tallest
This past week, a Miami developer announced his plans for a new condo tower next to the Floridan hotel. The developer, Haim Einhorn, wants to put in a 479-foot tower with 250 units “that young people with $40,000 salaries could afford.”
At 479 feet, the tower would be the tallest in the immediate area by about a hundred feet (the federal courthouse tops out at 375 ft.) The building will loom large over the Floridan Hotel (which it would share the block with) by 275 ft. Several city council members have expressed reservations in the past about permitting anything taller than 120 feet in the North Franklin area of downtown so it’s unclear if the promise of affordable housing will be enough to let this project go through or if the city council will let altitude scare off another positive addition to downtown.
This project is exactly the sort of development downtown needs. Even the much-vaunted Skypoint condo tower is a bit pricey for the majority of Tampa’s younger downtown employees. Potential downtown citizens can easily become dismayed when they find that a Skypoint condo with a $170,000 price tag will afford you only 675 square feet of living space. I live in a 980 square foot, one bedroom condo myself and can’t imagine living in something smaller. 300 less feet of space? That’s my entire bedroom!
It remains to be seen what this new tower might offer with pricing and square footage, but I’m encouraged by the developer’s knowledge that most of us still consider forty grand is a lot of money.
Tags: city, development, paying rent, tampa
Loading ...
March 25th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
“that young people with $40,000 salaries could afford.â€-
this is what is commonly called a lie. notice he doesn’t say how many 40k earners would be needed to buy a unit.
At current tax rates a person earning 40k has $2500 a month in take home pay. Most lenders will not go over 50% debt to income which means the total amount they might be able to finance is about $125000 on a 30 year conventional at 6.25%. This is assuming they hav very good credit. So if skypoint is offering a whole 675 sq ft for $170000 I would love to see what you might be able to get for $125k!
March 25th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
Real numbers never lie. Developers often do.
March 26th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
actually I forgot that the sti is based on gross income so the amount would be higher than $125k, more like $140k I think. Not that it matters too much.
When did $40,000 per year become low income?
March 26th, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Yep, I’m with the majority: it’ll NEVER be for “young people with $40,000 salaries .” You forgot this town is for sale to the highest bidder, not the nicest guys.
March 26th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
I’ve got a feeling a whole bunch of these downtown condo units are going to become “affordable” before too long. Classic case of supply vs. demand, just like they teach in economics class.
March 27th, 2006 at 9:25 am
Nobody said 40k was low income. But don’t confuse “middle class” with “able to afford a place to live somewhere near where you might LIKE to live”. I spent a year looking for a house I could afford in a place even remotely near where I want to live. Anything I might have been able to pick up could be considered kindly as a “fixer-upper”. I ended up moving out to Wesley Chapel because it was the only place that I could buy a house I could actually afford. And now that I’m out here?
I think I’d rather rent, honestly. At least I can be closer to where I want to be.
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:41 pm
What I want to know, is with all the history lost down town how in the bloody hell does the Floridian Hotel avoid the wrecking ball? Even in its day this was by far not one of the nicest hotels in Tampa and in fact the only claim to fame I can find is that at one time it was the tallest building in the state. Many beautifull hotels like the Tampa Terrace were leveled for mundane parking lots but still that eye sore stands.
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:11 pm
Well, aside from being on the National Register of Historic Places, rather than having a simple local historical designation like Maas Bros. did, a lot of people (myself included) actually think of Floridan as rather a grand old building and well worth saving. At present it’s something of an eyesore because of the span of time it’s spent sitting empty, collecting bird poos and other detritus. Somebody someday will fix it up, I hope.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:34 am
But the point is, that out of all the architectually interesting hotels which graced downtown in the early 20th century, the Floridian is the most lack luster of all and yet some how it has managed to survive. That unto itself is baffling. I suspect it has more to do with the location of the building than anything. The more prominent hotels were closer to the water where the more expensive real estate now stands.