As Water Street's first phase winds down, developer Strategic Property Partners moves its CEO into new role to scout other big projects
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 13, 2020

The developer of Water Street Tampa is beginning to look for other big projects — and it's shifting its chief executive into a new role to scout for potential deals.

Strategic Property Partners said Friday that CEO James Nozar will become strategic adviser to the board of directors to look for "large-scale, transformational opportunities with the company’s long-term growth objectives."

The developer also said it is making staffing changes "which include limited reductions and repositioning of existing staff as part of the company's natural development cycle." A spokeswoman for SPP declined to disclose how many jobs would be cut.

The internal moves come as the most development-intensive parts of Water Street's first phase are winding down, with 10 buildings well under construction and set to open by the end of 2022. As SPP shifts its focus to operations and property management for the first phase, it's also turning its focus to new development projects — whether in Tampa or throughout the U.S.

SPP, controlled by Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates' Cascade Investment LLC, did not immediately name a replacement for the CEO position. Nozar has been at the helm since early 2016, when he moved to Tampa from Washington, D.C.'s JBG Cos. to take the top job at SPP. “I am more passionate today than I ever have been about SPP, our vision, our values and the potential to bring that same enthusiasm and knowledge to new projects," Nozar said in a statement. "I look forward to working with the team in my new capacity, to discover and assess new development opportunities so that we can continue to build on our successes."

The shift is meaningful beyond SPP itself: As the company evolves and takes on additional projects, it could elevate Tampa, too, as the hometown of a cutting-edge urban developer and Water Street as a model project.

SPP was formed in 2014 as a holding company for Vinik's real estate endeavors — at the time, solely the development that would become Water Street and the repositioning of what was then Channelside Bay Plaza. Former Lightning CEO Tod Leiweke, whose Seattle ties brought Cascade to the project, was overseeing both the hockey team and real estate company before departing for the NFL in 2015.