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Development of Curtis Hixon Riverfront Park, construction of the new Tampa Museum of Art and Glazer Children's Museum and expansion of the city's riverwalk have enhanced downtown significantly. There's more to come, with the construction of USF's new Center for Advanced Medical Learning now under way.
Three past TDP chairmen — Keith Greminger, an architect with Gensler; Tom Hall, chairman of TuckerHall; and Ray Sandelli, senior managing director of CB Richard Ellis -- tell the Business Review what they think of what has transpired downtown and what's to come.
What do you think have been the most significant additions to downtown Tampa in recent years?
Greminger: The park and the museums are probably the greatest additions to the urban core. The park can be enjoyed by everyone without cost.
Sandelli: The residential component. The perception had always been that downtown was a place to work. When you talk about residential in the urban core, you have people living, working and playing downtown, and the expectations are that it becomes a community.
Hall: Going back to when we were putting the Florida Aquarium together, our objective was to get residential. In order to get residential, you have to have entertainment, and then retail will follow residential. That component has been critical to changing the way downtown Tampa works.
What key addition would you like to see next?
Hall: We haven't had the retail infill that we need, and we now have nearly 5,000 people living downtown. I'd love to see it at 10,000 or 12,000. We don't have huge areas of space to develop, but with the St. Pete Times Forum, the convention center and the performing arts center bringing in people, two things we can use more of are residential and retail.
Greminger: The next extension of the trolley will help tie all that together to create an urban loop that people can get around. The ability to transport between all these venues is great. Completing the riverwalk will be part of that. Using a connector to tie all these assets together will be the next big thing.
Sandelli: I would love to see more affordable housing. We have some beautiful living spaces, but some of them are still priced out of range of our staff. We've talked for a long time about teachers, firefighters and people at certain income stratas who need to be part of the community. Maybe the fact that prices have reset allows that to happen.
Tampa often compares its downtown with other major cities in the Southeast and across the country. What does it take for Tampa to be a world-class downtown?
Hall: We have always been a major business center, and that's unusual in Florida. The Tampa City Center gave us the office component and exposure. Years ago there was retail, but that followed people to the suburbs. The new robotic surgery center will bring more people who will come here to live, start businesses and create spinoffs. The more high-end, top-quality businesses we can put in downtown will take us to the next level.
Sandelli: I'm not concerned with trying to be like another city. I'd like to see us create the city that we want. People talk about the 24/7 city, but do we want cars and traffic in the middle of the night? Or do we want that great sense of calm, a place where you can enjoy the city but you can also get a good night's sleep.
Greminger: We're a waterfront community and we should really be more authentic to ourselves and play up our natural assets. We're beginning to take advantage of those now, but we still have a lot of room to grow in that aspect.
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