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Channel District

Six-story rentals will be area's first

Seaport Channelside will offer apartments and retail space. The builder and the city are teaming to clean up the former industrial site.

By JANET ZINK
Published June 24, 2005

The first rental units are headed to condo-crazy Channel District.

Seaport Channelside, a six-story, 418-unit apartment complex, is planned for the northwest corner of 12th Street and Twiggs Avenue.

The city of Tampa owns the 7.5 acres but is under contract to sell it to developer Synergy Properties.

Crews are clearing the site and expect to begin construction this fall, said Michael DeMarcay, vice president for Synergy Properties. The project should be done in early 2007.

Apartments ranging from 800 to 2,000 square feet will be available starting in September 2006. Rents will run from $925 a month to $3,000 for two-story, three-bedroom units.

Plans also call for a swimming pool, jogging track on the top deck of a parking garage, and basketball and tennis courts. About 10,000 square feet of retail space may include a bank branch, coffee shop and dry cleaners - "standard retail that's going to help residents that live there or nearby," DeMarcay said.

Synergy Properties of Tampa builds assisted-living facilities and apartment complexes throughout the state, including St. Petersburg, Orlando and West Palm Beach.

"This is the first project in our own back yard," DeMarcay said. "The urban infill locations are kind of the hot thing right now."

The state has designated the site a brownfield - an old industrial site eligible for grants for cleanup work.

The site used to house the city of Tampa's transportation and stormwater operations, including vehicles, fuel and other equipment. The city moved those operations to 40th Street and 26th Avenue in East Tampa about two years ago.

City officials solicited proposals for redeveloping the property in 2003 and chose Synergy from three responses based on its construction timetable and purchase price, said Dave Parkinson, the city's deputy director for redevelopment.

The $5-million deal is expected to close by the end of the summer, Parkinson said.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is overseeing the environmental cleanup now under way. Synergy is contributing $500,000 toward the cleanup, and the city is spending about $1.9-million. Synergy already spent about $180,000 demolishing the buildings on the site.

"Having a project of this quality and this size anchoring the north of the Channel District is a real plus," Parkinson said. "It adds a huge component to the district."

Janet Zink can be reached at 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 01:01:07]