Wood Partners Sets Sights on Tampa for $75M Condo-Retail Project

TAMPA, FL-Atlanta-based Wood Partners has contracted to buy a one-acre site from 610 Franklin LLC in the city’s Cultural Arts District. The developer plans to break ground later this year on 500 condominium homes and 14,000 sf of retail and commercial space.

Dave Thompson, a development associate with Wood Partners, tells GlobeSt.com his company “isn’t ready yet” to disclose either the development cost of the project or the price of the land because the dirt deal hasn’t closed.

However, area industrial brokers familiar with the Downtown submarket tell GlobeSt.com the condo component will probably have an estimated hard construction cost of $150,000 per unit and the retail about $85 per sf. That would place the so-far unnamed enterprise in the $75-million bracket, brokers tell GlobeSt.com. “It looks to me like a $100-million job at least,” says one Downtown retail broker who asked for anonymity because he may be representing clients later in the project.Thompson tells GlobeSt.com his company is “trying to get 33 stories” approved by the city. Elected officials are expected to make their final vote on the project in March. Meanwhile, Wood is demolishing the four buildings that previously housed the Maas Brothers department store headquarters. The development site is between Franklin and Zack streets, and Tampa and Twiggs streets.