Developer withdraws variance request for downtown Tampa apartments
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Feb 17, 2017

A Dallas developer has backed away from plans to build an apartment-and-retail project on the northern fringe of downtown Tampa.

Mill Creek Residential Trust has withdrawn a variance request that, if approved, would have paved the way for 275 residential units with ground-level retail space on a 2.2-acre surface parking lot sandwiched between the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts and the Tampa Bay Times building at 1000 N. Ashley Drive.

Todd Bleakley, who oversees the North Florida region for Mill Creek, wouldn't say why the request was withdrawn.

Bleakley withdrew the request in an email sent to the city's zoning coordinator on Tuesday.

"We're investigating our options," Bleakley said Thursday. "We still like our opportunities in downtown Tampa."

Bob McDonaugh, the city's economic development director, was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

The variance request, filed in late January, would have allowed the removal of a grand live oak tree on the parking lot. A grand tree is a specially designated tree with a trunk more than 34 inches in diameter that can only be removed in certain circumstances.

There were no alternatives to removing the grand tree, Mill Creek wrote in its variance request. The development would not be economically feasible if the grand tree were to remain in its spot in the center of the parking lot, according to Mill Creek's application.

Mill Creek has been active in the Tampa Bay region in recent years, building its Modera-branded communities in the Westshore business district and St. Petersburg.

The property Mill Creek was targeting - which is owned by Denholtz Associates - is directly south of another active construction. Crescent Communities, based in Charlotte, is building Crescent Riverwalk at 109 W. Fortune St. That development will add 394 residential units to the urban core.

Denholtz also owns the Times building and sold Crescent its site. Steven Denholtz did not return a phone call seeking comment.

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