James Nozar — President of Development at Kettler — is in good traffic this week from Tampa, Florida. We talk the development and design process behind a stretch of former industrial and surface parking lots becoming Water Street: a $4 billion waterfront neighborhood, and what that same playbook looks like applied to a second Tampa district: Gas Worx.
We also touch on: Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates' Cascade Investment placing the original bet on Water Street back in 2015. Why treating the arena as an anchor, not the center, of the district changed everything downstream. The real math behind structured parking — roughly $75 a square foot versus $12 to $15 for the land underneath it. Assembling a dozen-plus architects and landscape architects instead of handing the whole project to one firm. Preserving mid-century Ybor City buildings at a premium just to protect a street's rhythm and grit. A 2018 transportation sales tax that voters approved and the Florida Supreme Court struck down. Why Tampa's office market has kept leasing up while other Sunbelt cities stall out. Managing NIMBYism and gentrification worries on a project that saw almost no displacement.
Timeline:
0:00 James Nozar is in good traffic.
2:35 The 2015 phone call that became Water Street, backed by Jeff Vinik and Bill Gates' Cascade Investment.
4:29 Why treating the arena as an anchor — not the center — of the district changed the whole approach.
7:27 Turning 3,500 surface parking spaces into a walkable, event-driven neighborhood.
11:51 Assembling a dozen-plus architects and landscape architects instead of one master design firm.
14:56 Starting the entire plan with landscape and the public realm before a single building went up.
19:18 What's replicable elsewhere, and the pivot to Ybor City's Gas Worx.
21:58 Weaving new construction into a century-old street grid without it feeling "master-planned."
26:19 Tampa's streetcar, its funding fights, and a transportation sales tax overturned by the courts.
31:17 The real economics of a parking deck versus the cost of the land underneath it.
38:05 Expanding Water Street's next phases and Tampa's surprisingly resilient office market.
43:17 Handling NIMBYism, gentrification worries, and the near-total lack of displacement at Water Street.
48:26 What's next with land partner Darryl Shaw and Gas Worx's growing footprint.
52:48 Closing thought: trading a 45-minute DC commute for a 4-minute one in Tampa.
Further context:
Water Street Tampa.
Gas Worx.
Kettler.
James on LinkedIn.
