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Hotel, yes, but not here

By PAUL SWIDER
Published April 25, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Special to the Times] This proposed 32-story Westin Hotel at Fifth Avenue N and First Street is supposed to look like a sailing ship. It is opposed by nearby residents who say the structure breaks too many rules.

A new 32-story hotel could rise on less than an acre along Fifth Avenue N, if a Tampa developer gets approval from a city panel next week. But some downtown neighbors aren't happy about it.

"Generally speaking, we don't oppose a project if developers follow the rules, but this stretches the limits every which way," said Tim Baker, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, which plans to stand against the proposed Westin Hotel and Residences. "This is so wildly out of scale for that location."

Fuel Group International is proposing to build a 260-room hotel with 111 condominiums on 0.85 acres it owns on the southwest corner at First Street. The company has designed a building that would be the tallest in the city but wants permission for unlimited floor space.

Regulations calculate floor space in terms of the land on which a building sits.

Developers can reach greater floor-area ratio, or FAR, by adding amenities such as green space. City rules for the Westin site allow basic FAR of 3, but Fuel Group wants to build an FAR of 14 to accommodate more than 500,000 square feet of building, plus another 160,000 square feet of parking.

"They're trying to jam things in," Baker said, "and doing a lousy job of design."

Fuel Group officials did not respond to questions about the project. The proposal goes before the city's Environmental Development Commission on May 2.

Baker said neighbors met to discuss the plan and are upset that the hotel would generate significant truck traffic in a cramped area next to an electrical substation. He said the developer's desire to get more floor space ignores the needs of a neighborhood of smaller homes.

The property also butts up against the 475-condo building, a seven-story project that is near completion.

Neighbors say they could accept a tall hotel, just not on that site. Baker suggested the vacant lot at Central and Second Street, but Dan Harvey said he offered Fuel Group his land next to Parkshore Plaza just a block away.

Harvey will also be presenting a nearby project to the EDC in May when he seeks site plan approval for a 21-story building where Mansion by the Bay now sits.

Harvey and developer John Lum want to move or salvage the Queen Anne structure to make way for 28 condos between Presbyterian Towers and Townview Condominiums on Fourth Avenue N.

The project would cost between $10-million to $12-million and sales would start in a few months, Lum said. He said they are hoping the real estate market has bottomed out already.

"We feel confident the market should be back" in two years when the building's finished, Lum said.

Preserving Mansion by the Bay might be a sticking point because the structure has been changed and expanded over the years. Harvey has salvaged wood from other older homes he's owned and might do the same with this building, if there is no way to move it.

"We ask that nothing happen to that building until a for-real project is ready to go there," said Bob Jeffrey, the city's assistant director of development services.

Paul Swider can be reached at 892-2271 or pswider@sptimes.com or by participating in itsyourtimes.com.

[Last modified April 25, 2007, 00:00:15]