First phase of Riverside Heights to break ground in early 2015
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 4, 2014

The Bourbon & Brew Festival that will brings thousands of people to Riverside Heights this weekend is a fundraiser for Chas Bruck's family foundation, but it also serves as marketing for the riverfront location.

"It gets people used to coming to the area," said Bruck, who owns the waterfront land with his partner at SoHo Capital, Adam Harden.

Soon there will be a year-round reason to visit the area: The developers are planning to begin construction on the first phase of the Heights, a 317-unit apartment building on a parcel north of Palm Avenue, in the first quarter of 2015. The building will be a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments and will include a few three-bedroom units as well as 17,000 square feet of retail space.

Riverside Heights is a undeveloped parcel of land on the Hillsborough River, just north of downtown Tampa. It is entitled for 1,600 residential units, 400,000 square feet of office space and 200,000 square feet of retail space.

The apartment building will be masonry construction in multiple stories. The developers have obtained letters of intent for portions of the retail space, Bruck said. A letter of intent in commercial real estate is a nonbinding outline of the terms of the deal and allows the company time to do due diligence on the potential site.

"Optimistically," the building could break ground in February, Bruck said, concurrent with the closing of the construction loan. He declined to identify the lender.

Bruck said the partners are also on track to open up the first phase of the Armature Works building on the site. The first phase will include two restaurant concepts - owned and operated by the partners, though Bruck isn't ready to disclose what they will be. Ideally, that phase will be open by September or October 2015.

"We want to create something that's going to be impactful for the next 20 years," Bruck said.

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