HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — What was once a few tall buildings peppered against the Florida skies is now a stunning skyline. As more buildings are being built throughout Tampa, the skyline is expanding.
“Over the past decade or 15 years, Tampa has changed drastically," Nicole Travis, administrator of economic development and economic opportunity with the city of Tampa, said.
Those drastic changes are drawing people from all over the country right here to Tampa.
“This is just a really exciting time for Tampa. As we continue to grow, there's a lot of private sector development, but you're also seeing public-private partnerships with the city,” Travis said.
Water Street continues its expansion, new buildings are going up along the Riverwalk, and the Gasworx developmentis fill-in in about 40 acres of land with buildings between Ybor City and Channelside.
Graham Tyrrell is the Vice President of Kettler. He's working on the Gasworx Project; he said it will have about 18 development sites.
He said the buildings will start at about five stories on the north end near Ybor City. They will grow to reach about 30 stories near Channelside.
“And will slowly step up through the district. On the south end, closer to Channel District, it will be more high-rise buildings more typical of what you see downtown,” Tyrrell said.
Adding new high rises and extending the skyline past the Channel District will be a major change.
As more buildings go up, so does the price of paradise.
“Along with our continued growth and the population projections that we have for the city, the prices will continue to increase but were also seeing a demand for additional units residential units,” Travis said.
She said she thinks prices will start to stabilize once there is more housing, which will come with much of the development.
Gasworks will add 5,000 new residences. The city is working on the Rome Yard project, which will create over a thousand additional housing units.
Travis said the city is making a bold commitment to affordable housing.
“The affordability is going to be affected just with the fast growth we're having. However, we're doing everything we can looking at policy, legislation, limited funding to be able to do this,” Travis said.
As for how high we will see the skyline reach, that's dependent on where the buildings are in relation to the flight path. The city tells me height restrictions come from the FAA.
