Tribune Supports Poaching for Downtown

The Tribune editorial today recommends support for Jeff Vinik poaching of MOSI from the USF area to downtown Tampa.

Moving the Museum of Science and Industry from its location near the University of South Florida’s main campus to downtown Tampa is an appealing prospect on a number of fronts.

The move would boost MOSI’s attendance by exposing it to more people. Tampa’s downtown would benefit from having another attraction. And the nearly 80 acres of county-owned land where the museum now sits could be marketed to private companies wanting to benefit from being near USF and the Moffitt Cancer Center and James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital.

This is precious. The Tribune has supported the relocation of the USF Medical School to downtown Tampa away from Moffitt and Haley. Keeping USF Medical near other medical research institutions in the USF area would make too much sense I guess. They would rather gamble with MOSI on the hope of Vinikville and an unknown private company to rescue the USF area.

If the move were to happen, MOSI would join two other educational institutions in the Channel District, the Florida Aquarium and the Tampa Bay History Center. And it would be near the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, the Tampa Museum of Art and Glazer Children’s Museum. Together, those facilities have established downtown as a center for culture and entertainment offerings in the Tampa Bay area.

We've heard the same story about downtown again and again. Build this educational, cultural, or entertainment venue downtown, and magic will happen. It's so important, we have to subsidize all these investments with your tax dollars from the local, state, and federal level.

MOSI Imax Theater

All these downtown investments receive some subsidies from local, state and/or federal government:

• Straz Center for the Performing Arts
• Tampa History Museum
• Tampa Museum of Art
• Glazer's Children's Museum
• Riverwalk
• Tampa Convention Center
• Tampa Theater
• Florida Aquarium
• Several parks
• Tampa Streetcar

Yet we need more? Yes, as MOSI receives it's share of subsides as well.

With all the investment in these attractions, is it really working to draw the crowds into downtown? Apparently not, as now they need MOSI to make it work.

If the current MOSI property can be marketed to recruit private companies and result in some great benefit, why can't we do that for Vinikville?  Vinik has stated as much, yet neither he nor anyone else has yet been successful in the mission to draw more private sector, taxpaying business into downtown. So now their plan is poach local business and attractions into their kingdom.

The land along East Fowler Avenue where MOSI sits is owned by Hillsborough County, which could benefit by having a private company move onto the land and generate jobs and tax revenue. A tech company moving into the neighborhood would be a bonus for the Tampa Innovation Alliance, a nonprofit that is working under the guidance of former County Commissioner Mark Sharpe to rejuvenate the area around USF and Busch Gardens.

Moving MOSI to even more expensive land downtown will somehow recoup more tax revenue? Show your math on that one, please.

By the way, former County Commissioner Sharpe's Tampa Innovation Alliance is expected to receive a $1.5 million subsidy from the state too.

Much remains to be worked out. Moving an institution of that size is a major undertaking. But the move could signal a new beginning for MOSI and for the neighborhood being left behind. And it would add another intriguing piece to the Channel District’s transformation.

Not to mention the taxpayers, who surely will be asked to pay for the move, just like they are with USF Medical.

It's part of their plan for you to pay and pay and pay.

Downtown Tampa, Then and Now

Then:

Signs abounded Monday that New York's best-known real estate mogul is serious about building a $220-million luxury condominium complex in downtown Tampa that, at 52 stories, would be the tallest condo project on Florida's West Coast.

Now:

Jeff Vinik isn’t just developing some new buildings in the Channel District. He’s remaking an entire area of downtown into a new neighborhood, and nearly building a second skyline for Tampa’s urban identity.

Then:

"There was and is now an immediate buzz and level of activity (for pre-sales) that we've never seen in any of our previous projects," said Simon, who along with his four partners has completed more than 1,000 luxury condominiums and townhouses in the bay area.

Now:

Largely funded privately, the project includes nearly a dozen new buildings, including hotels, office buildings, apartment towers, restaurants, medical school facilities, retail promenades, parks and entertainment venues, with a budget topping $1 billion. In all, the project could remake 40 contiguous acres along the waterfront and rank as one of the largest downtown development projects underway in the Southeast, letting Tampa join ranks of other U.S. cities seeing a resurgence of urban spaces.

Then:

"We are developing a signature landmark property so spectacular that it will redefine both Tampa's skyline and the market's expectations of luxurious condominium living,"

Then

Now:

“We have a blank canvas to develop an entire district to help revitalize downtown and change this area for generations to come,” Vinik told several hundred people gathered at the Marriott Waterside hotel for the revealing ceremony. “It’s critical we create a unified district, and it’s critical that this district have a soul and a brand.”

Then:

Located on a 1.5-acre site at 111 South Ashley Dr., adjacent to the Hillsborough River, the building will include 190 condominium and penthouse units ranging from 1,991 square feet to 6,150 square feet. Prices range from $700,000 to more than $6-million for the penthouse and other top units.

It would be the tallest building on the west coast of Florida, exceeding the 100 N. Ashley Building across the street by 17 feet, said Tampa attorney Ron Weaver, who shepherded the rezoning of the parcel.

Now:

In all, the plan calls for 575,000 square feet of new hotel/meeting space, 250,000 square feet of retail, 1.1 million square feet of office, 660,000 square feet of residential, 330,000 square feet for USF colleges and more space for utilities and parking, totalling 2.9 million square feet of development, with a budget topping $1.07 billion.

Now

 Then:

The builders hope to fetch record prices in downtown Tampa -- and among the highest in the region -- based on the Trump name, the views of where the river meets the bay, the proximity to cultural and nightspots and a host of amenities. The complex will feature concierge and valet services, a business center, fitness center and spa, a restaurant, retail shops, billiards and game rooms. Marketing materials describe the use of "exotic wood finishes, imported marble floors with inlaid onyx highlights and a fine art collection."

Now:

The hot phrases now in development are “mixed use” and “live/work/play” and “24-hour neighborhood.” Apartments over restaurants, offices over shops, hotels over nightclubs and everything mixed together. Your living room may be mere yards away from Starbucks. And where the customers want to live, the developers are right there to build. The amazing thing is the vast, vast expanse of Jeff Vinik’s 2.9 million- square-foot Tampa project is just one of several that scale underway. 

Then:

Ever wonder what happened to the site of the failed 52-story Trump Tower Tampa?

The bank took it back in foreclosure Wednesday.

Colonial Bank attempted to sell the waterfront downtown Tampa site at a foreclosure auction at the courthouse but ended up buying the land back.

The foreclosure marked the end of dreams for many who expected the building to become Tampa's tallest. It also brought to a close another chapter for investors and buyers who sank money in a project that fell apart.

Now:

Perhaps the most visible challenge in the area has been remaking Channelside Bay Plaza, which now stands largely empty. 

We wish Jeff Vinik the best in his vision.  But remember the Trump Tower before we get too excited about it.  Or Channelside, for that matter.