More student housing coming to Tampa's RITHM at Uptown
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 9, 2024

A Chicago developer has entered a deal to build more student housing at Tampa's RITHM at Uptown, a mixed-use development on the property formerly known as University Mall.

Core Spaces, which built the a 359-unit, 890 bed student housing development Hub Tampa in 2022, will again partner with the master developer of RITHM to build a phased development that will include "up to 3,000 student housing beds, 150 conventional units and 10,000 square feet of neighborhood-friendly retail."

New York-based RD Management is the master developer of RITHM, which stands for research, innovation, technology, habitat and medicine.

The redevelopment of the former University Mall into RITHM has been underway for a decade. RD Management bought the mall in late 2014 and then bought up the mall's anchor boxes to form a 100-acre assemblage. RD's redevelopment efforts dovetail with an ongoing revitalization movement in the area surrounding the University of South Florida. Sprouts Farmers Market, a national grocer, opened in RITHM in 2023.

The student housing partnership with Core Spaces is a much-needed boost for those revitalization efforts, which are slow-going. The first phase of Hub II will include over 400 units, 1,300 student housing beds and an 800-stall parking garage.

Construction will begin this fall, with completion expected in fall 2027. A third and fourth phase of the project will include over 700 beds and 800 beds, respectively.

Beyond the first phase of Hub Tampa, Core Spaces said it owns and manages two residential communities in Tampa, including ULake and 42N, totaling over 1,700 beds.