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Developer redraws tall condos
The Channel District "project formerly known as O2" gains a 250-room hotel, apartments and retail.
By JANET ZINK
Published February 2, 2006
TAMPA - A troubled development in the Channel District is trying to regain steam by trading condos for hotel rooms and apartments.
Ken Morin, a partner in the scratched O2 condominium towers, met Wednesday with city officials to review details of his revamped plans.
He wants to build a 250-room luxury hotel, 450 condominiums, 330 apartments and 100,000 square feet of retail on a parcel across from the St. Pete Times Forum.
Morin wouldn't reveal the name of the hotel chain involved in the project, but said it would be "high-end" with restaurants and nightclubs.
The project is scheduled to go to Tampa City Council for rezoning March 23.
Morin hasn't announced a name for the project.
"Internally, we're calling it the project formerly known as O2," he said. The $500-million project would bring several missing ingredients to downtown Tampa development, Morin said.
"Downtown is in desperate need of a real, full-service hotel. It's in need of rental property," he said.
Morin described the project as a T-shaped building that looks like a scaled-down version of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It's more dense, but not as tall as the previously proposal for the site.
Morin was one of the original developers of O2 at Pinnacle Place, which included two 41-story condo towers with 408 units and a 53-story space needle.
But that idea fizzled when the Federal Aviation Administration said the building was too tall and would affect traffic at the Peter O. Knight Airport on nearby Davis Islands.
A contract is in the works that would allow a new development partner to buy out Frank DeBose and Corvus International of Birmingham, Mich., Morin's partners on Pinnacle Place.
Morin's other projects include Walter's Crossing, a shopping center on the former Walter Industries site at Dale Mabry Highway and Interstate 275 anchored by Target, Linens 'n Things and Designer Shoe Warehouse; and Suncoast Crossings, a 689-acre community at the Suncoast Parkway and State Road 54 in Pasco County.
Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3401.
[Last modified February 2, 2006, 02:15:36]
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