Mercury Advisors courting new partner for Channel district apartment tower, sources say
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Mar 30, 2015

A long-awaited mixed-use tower in downtown Tampa's Channel District is getting closer to breaking ground.

Daniel Corp., the Atlanta developer that was in talks with Mercury Advisors to pursue a joint venture on the Martin at Meridian, is out of the deal, according to real estate sources, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation.

However, another group is in talks with Mercury Advisors, sources said. Sources did not know the identity of the new group but say a deal is on track to close in the coming weeks.

Mercury Principal Ken Stoltenberg declined comment Monday.

The 23-story tower has been in the works for years and would bring another 300-plus residential units to Channel district, adding hundreds of people to Tampa's downtown population and getting close to the type of density needed to support retail and restaurants.

The project is slated to include ground-level retail, which for years has been speculated as the location of a downtown grocery store, likely for Publix Super Markets Inc.

A Publix spokesman told the Tampa Bay Business Journal last week that the grocer is "hopeful” it will one day have a location in downtown Tampa or the Channel district, but "right now there's nothing to comment on.”

The tower was to break ground by the end of 2014. In January, Stoltenberg told the TBBJ that challenges with the project's financing were delaying the groundbreaking.

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