Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Yesterday, the Tampa City Council gave preliminary approval to two new condominium towers by Novare-Intown, the developers of Skypoint.

Each of these new towers will be 34 stories, and are on the two open parking lots immediately north of Skypoint and the TECO building.  On the west lot, Novare plans a 445-foot building with 400 units; on the east lot, a 460-foot tower with 405 units. 

Both buildings are will be “affordable,” but the east building is expected to cost a bit more.

Novare is pleased with the response to Skypoint and wants to move quickly with the two new towers.  City Council is awaiting renderings of the two buildings before offering final approval, expected on May 4.

Your Florida House of Representatives passed a bill recently that requires high school freshmen to declare a “major” for their career.  The proposal is part of Gov. Bush’s so-called “A Plus Plus” education reform plan.

Generally, middle school students would be “encouraged” to identify areas of interest and tailor their electives toward those; freshmen would then be expected to pick a major upon entering high school.  All high school students would take 10 elective classes, four of them in their major.  The program allows flexibility with the other six classes.

The state Senate (which I normally think is the more rational of our two houses) has another plan which eliminates the idea of majors but cuts the number of electives students can take and requires more math and reading.  (Aren’t high schoolers still required four English classes, one each year?)

I don’t know how to feel about this.  I’m supposed to be a grown-up yet I still don’t know what I want to do with my life.  Picking a major in college was stressful, and I wasn’t too good at it in my 20’s.  I can’t imagine how the average high school student is going to pick a major and want to stick with it.

This is another in an ongoing series.  Previously we highlighted:

• residences at franklin
• arlington and sky restaurant
• skypoint
• wood partners
• trump tower tampa
• embassy suites
• plaza harbor island
• towers at channelside
• the place at channelside

Use our handy map to see all current construction in downtown.

On Channelside Drive between Kennedy and Madison (yes, Madison is still there; it will reopen after the completion of these two projects) is Ventana, which has two 10-story towers over parking garage and retail, with a pool in between. There are 84 units.

Construction took a while to get started here, but the building is not as enormous as most of the other channel district projects and should wrap up in the summer of 2007.

Ventana is sort of the little brother of Grand Central at Kennedy, which in terms of land area is the largest project in downtown, for now (Seaport Channelside and the Tampa Heights and Central Park redevelopments will be bigger if they come to pass).

Grand Central includes an east wing and a west wing, each having an eight story and a 14 story component (they aren’t really separate buildings). There will be a total of 392 units.

The east unit is up to the eighth floor, with the west unit several floors behind.

This project is slated to include a grocery store as one of the ground-floor retail tenants.  Those of us who live downtown now pick up most of our goodies from the Oceanic Supermarket on N Tampa.  We are anxiously awaiting an announcement of just what this grocery store will be, but as yet no tenant has been signed.

Moving along somewhat more slowly than the Towers at Channelside, we have the Place at Channelside. Located two blocks north and one block east of the Towers on a very large site, this project is meant to be constructed in two phases.

The first phase includes an eight-story building, and will have about 170 units. This building is already up to the fourth floor.

There was some controversy over Phase II of the Place. Developer Fida Sirdar wanted to build a 350’ tower with a design unique in the Tampa skyline. As with most projects, citizens were asked for input on the plan, and most of the comments were positive. The city council nonetheless put approval off for another day; earlier in the same meeting, city councilors had approved a 21 story project (as opposed to this 32-story one) for a location less than three blocks away, another example of the ever-changing rules for building downtown.

However, on April 13 the city council examined the project a second time and granted it approval. No word yet on when construction will commence (soon) or be completed. The first phase should be finished by spring 2007.

This is another in an ongoing series. Previously we highlighted:

• residences at franklin
• arlington and sky restaurant
• skypoint
• wood partners
• trump tower tampa
• embassy suites
• plaza harbor island
• towers at channelside

Use our handy map to see all current construction in downtown.

This is another in an ongoing series.  Previously we highlighted:

• residences at franklin
• arlington and sky restaurant
• skypoint
• wood partners
• trump tower tampa
• embassy suites
• plaza harbor island

Use our handy map of downtown to follow along. 

If you’ve been to the Shops at Channelside recently you certainly couldn’t have missed the work on the Towers at Channelside. These two towers will each ultimately reach 30 floors and the whole project will have 257 units, along with a large amount of ground floor retail.

Like the Trump tower, the penthouse units on the top few floors are twice the size of the average suburban home.

This is one of my favorite projects in downtown. I think they have one of the best advertising websites, and construction has been proceeding more quickly on this (really enormous) project than on any other. It’s expected to be complete in early 2007.

Once complete, this building will make flying into Peter O. Knight’s south runway (runway 17) an interesting experience.

Something of an ultra-luxury competitor (or companion) to Trump, the Plaza Harbour Island has 300 units in three phases, the first of which–a mix of townhomes surrounding a 20-story tower–is under construction now. The next two towers will be built after the current one is finished.

Construction here has progressed fairly quickly and the tower is up to the second floor. The developers expect it to open in early 2007, and at present this project is actually on track.

This is another in an ongoing series.  Previously we highlighted:

• residences at franklin
• arlington and sky restaurant
• skypoint
• wood partners
• trump tower tampa
• embassy suites

Use our handy map of downtown to follow along.

The Embassy Suites looks about done, doesn’t it?  Actually, there’s a good bit of interior work still remaining.  But the hotel is accepting reservations for 1 August this year.

Just as with every other project I’ve discussed so far, this hotel originally had a much earlier opening date. But like the Trump Tower (and every other skyscraper downtown), Embassy Suites had to sink caissons down to the bedrock.

Remember when the Selmon Expressway collapsed in 2004? The pilings had been inserted into a layer of false bedrock, which gave way.  Rumors about that the same thing happened early on in the construction of Embassy Suites, and new caissons had to be drilled 11 feet deeper than the original ones.

Other rumors contend that a second tower will eventually be built on the northern half of the hotel site, atop the parking garage. While there is no firm evidence one way or the other, on close examination of this photograph you’ll note there is additional rebar sticking out of the top of the garage piers.

Rebar decoration is common in parts of the third world, where it usually indicates hope that another story—or maybe another whole hotel—might be added on top.

The current building has 21 stories and 373 rooms.

This is another in an ongoing series.  Previously we highlighted:

• residences at franklin
• arlington and sky restaurant
• skypoint
• wood partners
• trump tower tampa

Use our handy map of downtown to follow along.

this is another in an ongoing series
residences at franklin
arlington and sky restaurant
skypoint
wood partners
use our handy map of downtown to follow along

Another of the most anticipated new projects, Trump Tower Tampa has officially begun construction, and should more radically alter the Tampa skyline than any of the other projects.

Many people have expressed concern that this project might never actually happen, as even after the first few announcements the site seemed to sit derelict for some time.

No longer; the work ongoing at the site consists of sinking caissons, the piers on which the building will rest, into the bedrock 100 feet underground. This is complex and difficult work and, as small as the site is, there are to be 163 of these caissons.  That work will take until at least mid-August, although as long as this drought continues, work will be on or ahead of schedule.

Of course, this project seems to have been born under a bad sign, as problems continue with both financing and general contractors.  I remain confident that the developers wouldn’t go to the expense of sinking caissons if they were concerned about being able to finish construction.

The developers are currently expecting the building to be completed in December 2008—so my money is on June 2009. Trump Tower Tampa has 192 units, is 52 stories tall, and will be the tallest residential building on the entire gulf coast when complete.

this is the third in an ongoing series
part one: residences at franklin
part two: arlington and fly restaurant
part three: skypoint
use our handy map of downtown to follow along

The demolition of the old Maas Bros. department store (now largely complete) has caused some controversy, but the project slated for the site (the block bounded by Tampa, Zack, Franklin, and Twiggs) is greenlighted and construction should begin shortly after the site is cleared.

Speaking of greenlighting, the Wood Partners’ web site for the building should only be viewed with red-tinted shades. The skyscraper will sit diagonally across the site, which should be interesting. Like Skypoint this building will also be 32 stories, but with 450-500 units. The architect for the two projects was the same, though some renderings of this project show a bug zapper or lantern-like ornament at the top; it is my fervent hope this will be lighted green every night, so that we might bring another superhero movie to Tampa.