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Where the opportunity is within Tampa's $30 million West Riverwalk expansion, explained
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Sep 21, 2020

The expansion of the West Riverwalk — hailed as a catalyst for economic growth by city, state and federal leaders — also represents millions of dollars in construction and consulting opportunities.

Tampa on Sept. 10 was awarded a $24 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development program to extend the West Riverwalk and make street changes throughout the city to improve safety and visibility for pedestrians and cyclists. The total project budget is $30 million.

Beyond creating potentially lucrative construction contracts, the improvements will create more walkability and connectivity within the city — both of which are major draws for commercial real estate developers. Virtually all of the new residential and mixed-use projects under construction or proposed within the city limits tout their walkability to restaurants and retailers. The extension of the West Riverwalk will connect more urban neighborhoods to the heart of downtown and provide a car-free transit option, which city leaders hope will create access to more jobs for those without cars.

It's too soon to say exactly how the West Riverwalk expansion work will be divided up, said Vik Bhide, the city's mobility director. The city is in the process of forming an internal team to oversee the project, and nothing can happen until the city executes a cooperative agreement with U.S. DOT.

But in the meantime, Bhide said, his department will be working on the legal and procurement side so they can get requests for proposals on the street as soon as possible after the agreement is in place.

These are the main types of contracts the city expects to bid out for the project:

Structural: This type of contract will be for building out the Riverwalk over the water in places where it cannot be expanded along the shoreline — three segments that total $9.5 million in work

Consulting: Bhide said his team anticipates seeking consulting services on the administrative side of the project

Design-build: The city will look to bid out design-build contracts for expanding segments of the Riverwalk where the work is "filling in the gaps," Bhide said, such as in front of Tampa Preparatory School

Green infrastructure: This environmental mitigation, Bhide said, involves working with the living shoreline and using flora and fauna native to the area

The city expects to have its agreement with U.S. DOT in place within 90 days, Bhide said, but it's difficult to pinpoint an exact time frame.

"That’s what we expect," he said, "but the federal government works at its own pace."

Bhide says it's not yet been hammered out whether the city will break up segments of the work or award one contract for each portion. For example, the total multimodal path — the extension and filling in of the West Riverwalk — is budgeted at $8.65 million. But within that project are multiple segments, like the Tampa Prep segment, which is a $1.35 million project. (See embedded document for the full breakdown of the project budget.)

The project, Bhide said, demonstrates connectivity, safety, environmental stewardship and economic development.

"BUILD funds are very competitive," he said, "and we feel that the reason we were awarded this grant is that we’re solving many problems with one project."