Downtown Tampa's renaissance depends on the city's ability to shed its cheap, back-office image
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 24, 2015

When Clair McClung was deciding where to pursue a fellowship in gynecologic oncology, she was attracted to Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. But coming from San Francisco, she and her husband, Adam Kenney, weren't so sure about the city itself.

"Tampa wasn't really on our map," said Kenney, who works remotely for San Francisco-based pMD, a mobile software company that focuses on health care.

But professionals like Kenney and McClung are what will make or break Tampa's latest attempt at downtown revitalization. The sexy development deals that create a vibrant urban core happen only in places where developers and investors are comfortable - and that is in cities with diverse, knowledge-based economies, where software developers and surgeons want to work.

Dave and Melissa Burton, on their 22nd story balcony, are downtown Tampa pioneers. They've lived in the Skypoint since 2007.

The city may be on the edge of solving that riddle, getting both the high-skilled workers and the top-tier development projects it has long desired. If it works, the result will be a changing face of the area, which could become known more for its technology and innovation - and for its downtown - rather than for back-office jobs and suburbia.

Building that kind of employment base represents a paradigm shift for Tampa, which for years has promoted itself as a cheap place to do business. But that low-wage, low-cost-of-business dynamic scares off developers willing to pursue the deals that attract an educated workforce - think residential towers and trendy restaurants in rehabilitated old buildings.

Now is the time to make that shift.

The economic recovery is strengthening, and developers and investors are back in deal mode, pursuing projects in competitor cities like Austin, Texas, and Charlotte, N.C. But none have forgotten how far values fell when the housing market crashed and took Tampa's real estate-based economy with it.

The better economy coincides with a defining moment for Tampa, an opportunity to transform both the city's economy and its reputation: Tampa Bay Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik has offered to donate an acre of downtown land to the University of South Florida for a medical campus. A high-paying, recession-proof industry like health care would entice real estate developers, with more assurance that there would be sustained demand for their projects. "It creates at least the potential for a whole new economy in downtown Tampa," said Tom Murphy, former mayor of Pittsburgh and a senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute, based in Washington, D.C.

Aspiring to more

Tampa has been here before, set for urban renewal and citywide growth. In the last real estate cycle, the city grew its economy and corporate footprint, developing more than 10 million square feet of office space, said Bob Abberger, one of the city's most prominent developers, who recently joined Vinik's real estate team.

Most of that was suburban office space - less-expensive, mid-rise real estate befitting a place known for back-office operations. It's been a quarter-century since an office tower was erected in downtown Tampa.

"What was Florida known for? What was Tampa known for? Affordability," Abberger said, "And now we're aspiring to more. We want to be known for more."

The Tampa-Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. is working on the issue as well, having recently publicly declared a goal to land a corporate headquarters location within three years.

Those aspirations have put the city in a chicken-or-the-egg scenario: Which comes first - the educated workforce or the high paying jobs? For Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, it's largely been a marketing push that came first. He said he's constantly reinforcing that Tampa is moving past its reputation as a call-center capital.

Investors and developers are still leery. Buckhorn will acknowledge this. But between the medical school and Vinik's plans to build an urban waterfront district around Amalie Arena - in addition to a proposed redevelopment that would transform the historic Kress department store into a 22-story tower with hotel and residential components - Buckhorn said he thinks the shift is starting to occur.

"The fact that office vacancies are down, rents are up and interest is up tells me it's working," Buckhorn said. "And we are on the precipice. We're not going to have to push that rock up the hill any more."

The medical school, combined with the rest of Vinik's plans, are key to revitalizing downtown and creating a more sustainable economy, Murphy said. Under Murphy's administration, he also leveraged partnerships with Pittsburgh's higher education institutes and professional sports teams. Murphy led the revitalization of Pittsburgh, transforming it from down-and-out Rustbelt city to a technology hub that now has a Google Inc. workforce of more than 600.

"Cities don't succeed unless you have that kind of shared vision and leadership in that kind of partnership," Murphy said, "That's what I see. Those are the elements needed for success."

Murphy - whom Buckhorn considers a mentor - travels the country in his role with ULI. He said Buckhorn's leadership and laser focus on downtown Tampa has created a buzz, and developers and capital sources are warming up to doing deals in the city.

A large part of Buckhorn's downtown initiative has been streamlining the permitting process for development deals - and that efficiency goes a long way with the private sector, Murphy said.

"People are comfortable investing in downtown Tampa because they believe they have a good partner in the public sector," Murphy said. "If the public sector wants to screw around with zoning and design it becomes a problem. Time's money."

Retaining Tampa talent

Kenney, who moved with his wife pursuing a fellowship at Moffitt, has found some of the elements the couple considers key to a successful urban neighborhood in downtown Tampa. From their 29th story condo in the Skypoint tower, they walk to events at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park - like the Oktoberfest in early October, where they saw German dancers and heard the cheering of "Eins, zwei, drei, g'suffa; Zicke-Zacke-Zicke-Zacke Hoy, Hoy, Hoy!" through their open balcony door throughout the weekend.

He wishes the city were more walkable, but he said he's thrilled to see more small businesses opening up, like Holy Hog Barbecue. Dave Burton, who opened Pizza Fusion on the ground level of the Skypoint four years ago, is a partner in the barbecue joint, open for a few months.

Monday-through-Friday lunchtime crowds have never been an issue, but Burton said it took two-and-a-half, nearly three years, for Pizza Fusion to attract a steady weekend business. But he and his wife, Melissa, are Tampa natives who want to see a vibrant downtown. Melissa Burton was one of the original buyers in Skypoint, when it opened in 2007.

"It's always the retail that wants to follow the residential and residential wants to follow the retail, and someone's just got to man up and just do it," Burton said, "and that's kind of what we wanted to do with Pizza Fusion and what my wife did when she decided to move downtown."

Burton said he's seen a pronounced shift in the buzz around downtown since opening Pizza Fusion. Friends who grew up in Tampa and moved away read about the activity on Facebook, he said, and hear about it from family members. None have moved back, he said, but they're talking about it.

"The actions haven't followed up with the words," he said, "but a lot of people I grew up with who live in other cities are taking notice of what all's going on."

Luring those Tampa expats back to their hometown could be the ultimate measure of success. It's certainly the emotional appeal Buckhorn has used to garner support for revitalization. "If they recognize their ability to keep kids and grandkids here, they're all in. That is the one common denominator that everyone hears," he says.

The argument has an intellectual component, too. Retaining Tampa-born talent that the city has exported for so long is what will determine whether Tampa can transform from back-office afterthought to the next great Sunbelt city.