Global hotel design guru believes Tampa's time has arrived

Ian Schrager, an iconic name in New York City nightclubs of the 1970s and the developer credited with inventing the boutique lifestyle hotel, rarely says he’s doing something he’s never done before.

Yet that’s where Schrager, co-founder of Studio 54 and the Morgans Hotel Group,  finds himself now — in Tampa. Schrager, 76, is a partner in Edition, a combo hotel and residences project that’s a key component of Water Street Tampa. A joint venture between Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment, Water Street is a $3.5 billion redevelopment of a large swath of downtown Tampa. Including Edition, Water Street is expected to have some nine million square feet of office, retail, residential, hospitality, cultural, educational and entertainment space when it reaches build out over the next five years.