When Miami developer Jorge Perez first eyed a 4.2-acre tract on the west bank of the Hillsborough River two years ago, people asked him if he wouldn’t prefer to build on the opposite side closer to Tampa, Florida‘s downtown core.
No way.
“I said, this is the greatest site in Tampa,” Perez recalled. “This whole section of Tampa is going to be thriving.” Again.
The chairman and CEO of Related Group made his remarks at the official groundbreaking of Manor Riverwalk, the 400-unit luxury apartment building where the Tampa Tribune newspaper headquarters once stood.
Work already is well under way, with concrete pilings soaring skyward as the eight-story L-shaped complex starts to take shape.
When it is finished in early 2019, Manor Riverwalk will be part of a massive redevelopment of Tampa’s long neglected west bank.
The initiative includes the newly-renovated Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, and another $750 million mixed-use redevelopment in which Related Group is lead developer.
Related saved an historic grand oak on the site as well as well as the sign of the Tampa Tribune, which chronicled its city for nearly 140 years before ceasing publication in 2016.
Regarding the revitalized Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said “It is the project that is the most transformative for West Tampa. He said when the temporarily-displaced Gallon and other North Boulevard Homes residents return to their redeveloped neighborhood, “they won’t have to live in a gang-infested, violent public housing project. They can live in a community that they are proud to call home and where everyone enjoys the same benefits.”
Featured image of renovated Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park courtesy of the City of Tampa.