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High density yields open space

But making a blend of commerce and homes successful tends to be site specific.

By MARK ALBRIGHT
Published January 14, 2007

Mixed-use was conceived as a way to get developers to swap intense development rights in return for keeping more open space. The concept increasingly is embraced by urban cities eager to hand out development bonuses for such other goodies as historic preservation, affordable housing, public art, more parkland and even space for stores. Some get taxpayer subsidies.

While Pinellas County is frequently described as built-out, the coming mixed-use binge raises questions whether the county will grow beyond its current maximum limit of about 1-million. Already St. Petersburg, for instance, is trimming parking requirements by a third and adding mixed-use as an option for about half the city's land area. That would lift St. Petersburg's ultimate population potential by about a quarter to 400,000 residents.

"With land re-use we can bring up to date a land use plan that envisioned St. Petersburg as a single family subdivision," said city development services director Julie Weston.

Simple as it may seem, however, mixed-use development is a tricky business guided by constantly changing market forces. For instance, many condos added ground floor retail in downtown Tampa to appease planners who wanted the sidewalks to look lively. That retail space remains mostly empty.

Meanwhile at Parkshore Plaza, ground floor retail space in two luxury condos signed up 11 stores, a white-tablecloth restaurant and in 2008 will have a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Robert G. Irvine who is about to get his own Food Network show.

The difference: Parkshore Plaza is located between pedestrian drawing cards BayWalk and the Vinoy Renaissance Resort in downtown St. Petersburg.

"We couldn't support that much retail with just the 200 millionaires who live in the condos upstairs," said Bob Churuti, a director of Beach Drive Retail, which manages the space.

Shopping centers are born again with residences on site 

Developers are flocking to the mixed-use business.

A recent International Council of Shopping Centers mixed-use how-to conference in Broward County drew 1,100 developers, triple the expected attendance. St. Petersburg's Sembler Co., a shopping center builder that tackled a few mixed-use projects in Atlanta, set up a residential division to do more of them. Sierra Properties LLC, a Tampa firm best known locally for the exclusive gated community Avila, has 15,000 rural acres in active development around the country.

The master developer of Cypress Creek Town Center, a 500-acre mixed-use project planned near Wesley Chapel, Sierra once envisioned another pasture-to-subdivision transformation. Instead Sierra opted for an open-air regional mall, restaurant district, apartments, hotel and several four- to seven-story office buildings support other developers' new subdivisions planned in the neighborhood. Half the wetland-dotted site, which has generated environmental opposition, will remain open space.

"We've been shifting from golf course communities to lifestyle developments that require mixed-use expertise," said Sebring Sierra, vice president of operations. "Mixed use is revolutionizing our industry. I wouldn't rule us out of bidding for an urban mixed-use project."

A younger demographic is flocking to an urban lifestyle 

Helping boost the mixed-use movement is a realization the housing market has changed.

Many baby boom empty nesters prefer active places where their needs are within walking distance. Many 20-somethings are eager to live in urban environments.

"They grew up in the boring suburbs watching TV shows like Friends and Seinfeld that glamorize big city life," said Pat Duffy, president of Colliers Arnold, a real estate firm in Clearwater.

"People who want to live steps from where they can shop for the necessities, eat in our restaurants and work downtown will love us," said Darren Booth, development director of The Heights, a 1,900 unit work-live-play project fronting the Hillsborough River north of downtown Tampa that recently won rezoning. "People who prefer spending their afternoon stuck on the Veterans Expressway won't."

[Last modified January 14, 2007, 01:10:15]