University Mall Redo Plans 3,000 Student Housing Beds
RITHM, 7M SF project in Tampa, aims to be largest innovation district.
It’s called RITHM—the acronym, derived from the word algorithm, stands for Research, Innovation, Technology, Humanity & Medicine—and when the 100-acre, 7M SF mega-project is finally completed in Tampa’s Uptown District, it will cover all of those sectors.
The mixed-use redevelopment of the 1.3M SF University Mall is being built in phases by RD Management, which this month unveiled the scope of the student housing component.
RD is partnering with Core Spaces on the student housing space, which envisions a total of 3,000 beds, 150 conventional units and 10K SF of retail in the student housing part of the project.
The next phase, known as Hub II will consist of three, four and five-story buildings encompassing more than 400 units and 1,300 beds, as well as an 800-stall parking garage, slated for delivery in 2027. The student housing will be within walking distance of the University of South Florida campus.
Hub III and Hub IV will include more than 700 and 800 beds, respectively, and will come online before 2030. Core Spaces completed the first phase of the student housing component at RITHM in 2022. Known as Hub Tampa, it included 359 units encompassing 890 beds.
In March, RD Management tapped JLL’s Central Florida Healthcare Practice Group to lease the health care, life science and office components of RITHM.
RITHM, rising on a site along East Fowler Avenue and Club Drive that RD acquired in 2014, aims to become one of the largest innovation districts in Florida. It is the biggest development in Tampa. Demolition of the mall, which was built in 1974, began in 2019.
A minimum of 500K SF at RITHM will be converted to health care and life science uses. In addition to life science, tech and R&D space, the development will feature retail and entertainment spaces, thousands of residential units, corporate offices and medical facilities.
A 103K SF shopping center anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market and including a Burlington store was completed at RITHM last year. Recent additions include new headquarters locations and related spaces for the USF Institute of Applied Engineering and Vu Studios.
A 250-key Marriott-branded hotel, to be built in two phases, is under construction at RITHM.