Luxury condo project beats back challenges — and avoids tree

The 24-story, 71-residence Virage condo tower is a bittersweet addition to south Tampa’s tony Bayshore Boulevard district. It’s rising on the land formerly occupied by the beloved Colonnade restaurant — a community icon since 1935 that closed in April 2016.

The Colonnade site featured a magnificent Florida oak tree that posed a problem for the Virage Bayshore developers. “We talked to local people who had had their first kiss under the tree, and apparently at least one couple, if not more, got married under it," says Jay Tallman, principal of the lead builder, Ascentia Development Group. "But it was definitely in the way of the building.”