Alabama developer plans $80 million, 19-story apartment tower in downtown Tampa's Channel district
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 13, 2020

A barren corner of downtown Tampa's Channel district — blocks away from the neighborhood's new Publix Super Markets Inc. store — could be home to a towering new apartment development.

Daniel Corp., based in Birmingham, Alabama, is laying the groundwork to build a 19-story, 332-unit apartment tower on the vacant corner of North 12th and Twiggs streets. The developer filed plans with the city in late April; this week, Daniel filed plans with the Southwest Florida Water Management District and sought a commercial utility permit from the city.

Construction costs are pegged at $80 million in city building records. An executive with Daniel was not immediately available Wednesday.

Dwell Design Studio of Atlanta is the architect; Stantec is handling the engineering, according to city building records.

It is the second new apartment development proposed in Tampa's Channel district since the novel coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. It is just across the street from the long-watched JH Williams Oil Co. property, where Tampa developer Ken Stoltenberg is pursuing a redevelopment that would make for 351 apartments in eight stories.

It is also across the street from Bell Channelside, one of the oldest multifamily buildings in the Channel district, and two blocks from Channel Club, a 21-story apartment tower that includes a street-level Publix.

Multifamily development in the Channel district has been hot for several years, fueled first by its proximity to downtown Tampa and in recent years by the anticipation of Water Street Tampa, which looks to link the Channel district to the central business district. The University of South Florida's recently opened Morsani College of Medicine in Water Street is also a big driver of multifamily development in and around downtown Tampa, as medical students and residents look to live close to the medical school and Tampa General Hospital.

But even before the pandemic began, many in the apartment industry were worried about the market, saying the top end of the market was potentially overbuilt. The pandemic, experts say, has slowed both development and investment sales.