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Things Are Looking Up For Heights Of Tampa

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

People gather Friday for the groundbreaking of The Heights of Tampa, the first step in a major redevelopment project.

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA

jpatino@tampatrib.com

Published: December 6, 2008

TAMPA - A decades-old vision to bring homes, shops and offices to land beside a prominent bend in the Hillsborough River, just north of downtown, took a key step forward Friday when developers broke ground on an office building and riverside boardwalk.

Some development has come to the area in recent years: the Tampa campus of Stetson University College of Law; the Hillsborough County Bar Association's headquarters and nonprofit foundation, and the Bush Ross law firm office.

But most of the land has remained fallow despite various plans touted by city officials and would-be developers.

The Heights of Tampa development firm, current owner of a 48-acre riverfront parcel in the Tampa Heights neighborhood, views Friday's ceremony as a significant move toward the ultimate goal of building a $500 million project that city council members approved two years ago.

"It is a huge psychological boost to start going vertical on the property," said Robert Scharar, board chairman of The Heights of Tampa and president of FCA Corp., a Houston investment advisory firm.

The firm eventually wants to build 1,900 condominiums and town homes, and 260,000 square feet of offices and shops. It also hopes to redevelop and find another use for the red-brick Tampa Armature Works building, constructed in 1914.

The plan includes boat slips, realigned streets, improved utilities, a rehabilitated Water Works Park and a riverfront boardwalk from North Boulevard to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

A Neighborhood Vision

The ambitious project has been slowed by permitting, an environmental cleanup and removal of trees to the nearby Blake High School campus. The current economic downturn hasn't helped.

But the project's first phase, though modest, is reason for optimism, the developers say.

The Beck Group, an architectural, construction and development company, will develop and lease a $7 million, two-story building at North Highland and Seventh avenues. There have been talks with the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce about the business organization possibly leasing space at the future office building. Construction is scheduled to be completed next year.

The Heights of Tampa also broke ground Friday on a 600-foot segment of the river walk along Water Works Park, 1710 N. Highland Ave.

The developer will begin landscaping at Water Works Park, eventually installing interactive water features, a playground, and a kayak and canoe launch, as well as restoring the historical spring.

Scharar said he wants to begin construction next year on a modest residential development with 50 to 100 condominium or apartment units.

Eventually he hopes the area will attract restaurants, small offices, modest-sized shops and possibly a 100-room hotel in the armature building, where the Tampa Electric Street and Railway Co. once worked on its streetcars.

The delay hasn't changed the vision for the project, Scharar said. He still wants to build an urban community where residents can walk and shop for necessities, and where nonresidents can shop, dine, and walk along the river or enjoy the park.

"We don't want to do a 50-story skyscraper," Scharar said. "We really feel we have a great project if we don't get ahead of ourselves and take it one step at a time."

'Things Have Changed'

Tampa Heights resident Ralph Schuler moved to the area 10 years ago and remembers former Mayor Dick Greco's plan, called the Mayor's Heights Project.

He said he is pleased with the Beck Group project, but doesn't think the overall plan will turn out as initially proposed by The Heights of Tampa.

"I don't think it will look like it was proposed in 2006," said Schuler, an architect. "Just because they change it doesn't mean it will be bad. It's just no way its going to stay the same. Too many things have changed."

Schuler said if city officials had taken advantage of a favorable economy and quickly completed a development pact with The Heights of Tampa, there would be more progress today.

"It could have happened in six months instead of 18 months," Schuler said. "We would have been talking about the eighth building, not the first building."

The developer and city officials deny the lengthy, detailed development agreement approved in 2006 by city council slowed the process.

"I don't think the city should have gone faster or the developer drug his feet," said Michael Hatchett, the city's urban development manager for Tampa Heights and Central Park. "To me it is more of an issue in the market, not that anyone went any slower. Everybody moved as diligently as we could."

Mayor Pam Iorio, who attended Friday's groundbreaking, called it wonderful to see development happening on the land - especially considering the current economy. She said the project always has been a long-term proposition.

One developer's decision to build in the area is likely to attract more interest, she said.

"Every time you have quality development there it spurs additional development," Iorio said.

Fran Roy, who has lived in Tampa Heights for 13 years, said the new project will bring attention to the area and may attract residents and commercial developers. It also validates the decision of "urban pioneers" who years ago gambled by moving to an area with overgrown lots, vacant buildings and many homeless people.

Roy, who is president of the Tampa Heights Civic Association, said: "It will give people a positive reinforcement about their investment in the neighborhood."

Board of Directors of The Heights of Tampa:

Chairman: Robert Scharar, president of FCA Corp., an investment advisory firm based in Houston.

Ed Turanchik, developer of InTown Homes, a development company primarily working in West Tampa.

Ike Monty, residential developer in El Paso, Texas.

Steve Crawford, president of Ivy Realty in Houston.

Neil Buck, real estate analyst at CB Richard Ellis in Tampa.

William Bahlke, owner of Heidt & Associates, an engineering firm in Tampa.

Former board members include Bill Bishop, a Hillsborough County developer now studying at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Don Wallace, former president and chief executive officer of Lazy Days RV Center. Wallace remains as an investor in the project.

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659.

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