Channel district's newest apartments to break ground
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Aug 17, 2015

The Channel district's newest residential development is under way.

The real estate development arm of Florida Crystals and the city of Tampa plan to officially mark the groundbreaking of a 300-unit, eight-story apartment building on the former Amazon Hose and Rubber site on Wednesday.

The warehouse was demolished months ago, and site work is under way for the new apartments at the intersection of Kennedy Boulevard and North 12th Street. The development will include a six-story parking garage and ground-level retail and have "art deco-inspired architecture" inspired by the developer's South Florida roots, according to a news release from the city.

Juan Porro, who heads up the real estate division for Florida Crystals, was the developer of The Slade, the fractured condominium across the street from the Amazon Hose site. The same general contractor that built The Slade, Case Contracting Co., will oversee construction of this project.

After closing on the Amazon Hose site in 2014, Porro told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that the Channel district has grown significantly since he developed The Slade.

"It has also evolved from a capital markets perspective,” Porro said at the time, "because it has attracted investments from institutional capital partners for the last apartment project that was completed and the current project under construction.”

Florida Crystals, the sugar producer based in West Palm Beach, launched a real estate division in 2013.