Water Street Tampa wins Urban Land Institute award for excellence
By Devonta Davis
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 14, 2023

Water Street Tampa has been named one of 10 winners of the Urban Land Institute's 2023 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence.

ULI began the Awards for Excellence program in 1979 to recognize superior development efforts in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

This year's winners were selected out of 68 financially viable, substantially complete and stable developments, including nine in the United States and one in Canada.

The 2023 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence winners are:

Aegis Living Lake Union – Seattle

Aurora Bridge Bioswales – Seattle

Cambridge Crossing (CX) – Cambridge, Massachusetts

First Americans Museum – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

HomeRise at Mission Bay – San Francisco

Ironworks – Vancouver, British Columbia

King Open/Cambridge Street Upper Schools &

Community Complex – Cambridge, Massachusetts

Little Island – New York City

University of California Merced, Master Architect 2020 – Merced, California

Water Street Tampa – Tampa

Projects were evaluated for excellence across various criteria, including design, economic impact, marketplace acceptance and sustainability.

Water Street has been a key piece in the revitalization of downtown Tampa. Vertical construction started in 2018 and completed its first phase of development in 2022 with the opening of The Tampa EDITION.

Read more: Jeff Vinik exits Water Street Tampa development partnership ULI noted that an important factor for Water Street was the public-private partnership between developers, local government and community leaders. Strategic Property Partners teamed up with the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County to build the missing infrastructure required to support new downtown development. SPP teamed up with Cascade Investment Fund LLC on Water Street.

Public spaces range from wide, shaded streets, to Raybon Plaza, a landscaped plaza with seating and public art, to Sparkman Wharf, the waterfront park featuring a shipping container dining garden and event lawn.

These projects are now finalists for the ULI 2023 Global Awards for Excellence, where developments will be evaluated against projects from Europe and the Asia Pacific regions.