Historic Kress in downtown Tampa to be redeveloped into hotel
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 10, 2014

The historic Kress building in downtown Tampa is on the verge of a transformation from vacant to vibrant, with plans under way to redevelop the building into a hotel, possibly with residential components.

A group of Tampa real estate veterans has teamed up with an Atlanta hotel developer to redevelop the five-story Kress, which was the home of five-and-dime store S.H. Kress & Co. The Tampa team includes father-and-son construction executives Sam and Casey Ellison; Anthony Italiano, a partner with the Ellisons in EWI Construction; and Tampa developer Alex Walter.

Atlanta-based HRV Hotel Ventures, which is also pursuing a four-star hotel in Ybor City, is forming a partnership with that group to pursue the redevelopment.

Tampa developer Jeannette Jason, who owns the building with her father, Miami-based broker Doran Jason, declined comment. Walter said Jason would play a role in the redevelopment, though he declined to give specifics of the deal structure.

Construction is scheduled to begin in the second or third quarter of 2015. Walter said the project "definitely has a lot of interest" from capital sources.

Historic renovation projects can be difficult to finance because the costs can fluctuate wildly if unforeseen issues surface during construction.

"The trick is, with a deal of this magnitude, is putting all the pieces together," Walter said.

A redevelopment of the site has been in the works for years, and the building was briefly brought to life 2012, when it hosted parties for the Republican National Convention. The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported Oct. 6 that negotiations for a redevelopment of the property were close to resulting in a deal.

At 811 N. Franklin St., the Kress, built in 1929, is in a key spot in downtown Tampa, across the street from the Element apartment tower and a few blocks north of Skypoint, a condominium tower. A block north of the Kress, an Atlanta developer is considering a residential tower in the 900 block of North Franklin that could be up to 23 stories and include as many as 375 units.

With the redevelopment of the Kress, that corner of downtown Tampa could see the density required for urban vibrancy. Preservation advocates argue that rehabilitated historic buildings add a unique sense of place to an area, an intangible vibe that attracts people and businesses. And while historic renovation is far more expensive and complex than new construction, preserved buildings can sometimes command higher rents if there are tenants willing to pay a premium for a unique space.

The Kress ceased to function as a department store in 1981, and in 1983 the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The building "was one of the last major commercial structures erected in downtown Tampa, Florida, before the beginning of the Great Depression. It is, therefore, representative of the remarkable period of growth from 1885 to 1929 that saw Tampa transformed from a small frontier village into a major Florida city," the owner at the time, William Charles Mayo, wrote in the application to place the building on the register.

Ashley Gurbal Kritzer is a reporter for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.