Developer of Riverwalk Place, the 50-plus story mixed-used tower in downtown Tampa, unveils redesigned hotel-condo
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 7, 2020

The developer of one of downtown Tampa's most anticipated towers has unveiled new plans for the project — a new vision that subtracts condominiums, adds hotel rooms and significantly reduces the tower's height.

Two Roads Development on Tuesday filed new plans with the city for a 37-story hotel-condo tower on the vacant site at the intersection of Ashley Drive and Brorein Street. The hotel is on floors one through 13, with ballrooms on the 12th and 13th floors. The condos begin on the 14th floor.

The tower will be home to 222 hotel rooms and 230 hotel-branded condominiums. Arquitectonica Studios, a Miami-based architecture firm with a global portfolio, is the new architect on the tower. Gensler was the architect on previous iterations of the tower.

The plans are a significant shift for Riverwalk Place, which was first introduced in 2015 as a 50-plus story, mixed-use tower with luxury condos stacked on top of office space. The original developer, Feldman Equities, brought Two Roads in as a residential developer in 2018; Feldman exited the deal in March. Two Roads is now the sole developer, and GPB Capital is an equity participant.

With a "café and open-air gourmet restaurant" on the ground floor of the project, the new plan holds true to Feldman's initial vision of a building that interacts with and activates the Tampa Riverwalk.

Shortly after Feldman's exit from the project, Two Roads said it was in discussions with a hotel flag for a portion of the tower and said it was returning condo deposits while it worked through a redesign of the tower. Two Roads did not identify a hotel flag in Tuesday's updated plans but said it "looks forward to announcing the brand in the coming months."

The introduction of hotel rooms has dramatically reduced the number of condominiums in the tower. At one point, Feldman and Two Roads scrapped office space and planned to devote the entirety of the 50-story tower to 288 condos. By Tampa standards, nearly 300 units in one project is a massive undertaking. Developers typically presale units before beginning construction, with industry standards ranging from 40 percent to 60 percent of units presold to secure construction financing.

Condo prices have not been disclosed; Two Roads says it will "evaluate" pricing closer to kicking off a reservation campaign.

The hospitality sector has taken a massive hit during the novel coronavirus pandemic, and some financiers say hotel construction loans will be among the hardest to secure, at least in the short term.

It is the third project in Tampa to pursue hotel-branded condominiums. The Edition is a hotel-condo under construction in Water Street Tampa, featuring 37 luxury units atop a boutique hotel. Related Group, based in Miami, has also said it intends to pursue a hotel flag — to manage its strictly residential project on Bayshore Boulevard.