Long-awaited, massive mixed-use Tampa development seeks key approval
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 26, 2016

A New York developer is laying the groundwork to be ready to move forward with one of the most anticipated developments in Tampa's history.

The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority will consider a height variance for Tampa Bay One, a long-awaited development just off of Interstate 275, near the intersection of Dale Mabry Highway and West Cypress Street.

The owner of the site has requested a variance to build four mixed-use towers with a maximum height of 260 feet or more than 20 stories, according to the authority's May 2 agenda.

Bromley Cos., based in New York, has owned the 17-acre site for almost two decades. It assembled the parcels in the late 1990s. It could hold 1.2 million to 1.5 million square feet of development, depending on the tenant mix and range of uses - retail, residential, office and hotel - that Bromley is able to land.

The variance request doesn't mean a groundbreaking is imminent, said William Haines, Bromley chairman. But his team is increasingly fielding more interest in the site.

If a development came to fruition this time around, it would bring much-needed new retail and office space to an area that's starving for it. The site is close to the Westshore business district, where the retail vacancy rate is 3 percent and rental rates are the highest in the Bay region.

Bromley's original clearance from the aviation authority expired. The group has unveiled mixed-use proposals for the site in the past but those were ultimately stymied by the real estate market.

"I think Tampa is doing an amazing job of reinventing itself," said Haines, who is active in the Tampa-Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. "For the last year or so we've had a lot of inquiries and interest, so we just take each inquiry to see what they need."

The ultimate mix of uses will be tenant driven, Haines said, and won't move forward until Bromley lands an anchor tenant. Retail and office development are obvious plays for the site.

"It's not a shopping center site," he said. "It's a site that will produce some great retail sales and could be up to a couple hundred thousand square feet of retail."

Bromley has taken other steps to move the project forward. In 2015, Bromley received a commercial permit from the city to install new power and data lines and move the existing ones on the site.

"We're just keeping our ear to the ground," Bromley said. "If something comes along we're ready to go."

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