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Channel homes are wave of future
By JAMES THORNER
Published April 24, 2006
Forget phosphate barges, petroleum tanks and cruise ship revelers. A Tampa economist says the city's Channel District in the next 20 years will swarm with 12,000 new residents housed in 6,000 apartments and condominiums.
They'll need offices, stores and restaurants to keep them happy on the harbor. So projections call for an additional 3.3-million square feet of nonresidential buildings, employing about 8,800 people. "There's no other place in the region with so much going on," said Chris Jones, an economic consultant hired by Tampa.
The Channel District's renaissance isn't exactly news - the city has splurged on a trolley, aquarium and parking garages - but Jones delivered an updated forecast at a business breakfast last week.
Not that everyone abides by Jones' crystal ball: The economist joked that some city leaders challenged his population projections as an overcount, while developers took him to task for undercounting.
What's certain, judging by the construction cranes towering over waterside condo blocks, is that thousands of urban dwellers will be barging in on the barges.
[Last modified April 24, 2006, 01:40:15]
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