Water Street Tampa opens Thousand & One, a WELL-certified trophy office building

Lauren Wong | Sunday, August 22, 2021

The floor to ceiling windows in Water Street Tampa's newest office building, Thousand and One, as seen at dusk in this drone image. Courtesy of Seamus Payne

The front lobby entrance to Thousand and One in Water Street Tampa. Courtesy of Seamus Payne

Club space within the new Thousand and One office building in Water Street Tampa. Courtesy of Seamus Payne

Thousand and One's fitness center. Courtesy of Seamus Payne

Shared kitchen space inside Thousand and One. Courtesy of Seamus Payne

The new Thousand and One office building designed by COOKFOX is WELL-certified. Courtesy of Seamus Payne

COOKFOX, a New York architecture studio known for creating innovative biophilic designs around the world, has completed its first office project in Florida with the opening of Thousand & One in Water Street Tampa.

Strategic Property Partners (SPP), the developers of Water Street along the waterfront in downtown Tampa, envisioned the project as the first WELL Core and Shell-certified office building in Tampa, and the first trophy tower office built in the city in nearly 30 years.

The 20-story tower that opened in July 2021 just two years after breaking ground, now has 375,000 square feet of office space with 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Following COOKFOX’s signature biophilic design, the building focuses on connecting people with nature through floor-to-ceiling windows, water-facing views, and landscaped terraces with access to the outdoors. The design brings in 40% more fresh air than a traditional office building.

“It has an extraordinary engagement with nature. If you look at the detailing of the façade you see something very organic,” says David Bevirt, Executive VP of Corporate Leasing and Strategy for SPP. “The inspiration for the façade is the mangrove roots from Florida. … So not only is it engaging with nature in the way of natural light and air, but it’s also the detailing, and organic materials, like the mangrove roots that are now detailed within the façade itself.”

The goal was to introduce something new and unique to the market that would allow tenants to be successful by creating a space that drives what Bevirt calls the four R’s; the ability to recruit, retain talent, grow revenue, and make a return on investment. Being WELL-certified shows that it’s a restorative professional environment focused on the well-being of its tenants. Through its connection with nature, the science-backed design is based on the principles of light, air, water, nourishment, movement, materials, mind, and community. With a higher standard for air filtration, producing more fresh air, the idea is that the offices cultivate productivity, collaboration, balance, and the betterment of its people. This puts Water Street Tampa on the road to becoming the world’s first WELL-certified designed community.

“As we approach a post pandemic environment, we now have the ability to have more engagement with the general public through the narrative of WELL … meaning now folks are really concerned with the healthy environment that they can provide their staff and employees,” Bevirt says. “Can you do that in a traditional office building that isn’t WELL-certified? No.” If you’re in a healthier environment with increased productivity, you’re going to see more long-term results, he adds.

Water Street Tampa is a catalyst for the transformation of Downtown and the relationship between healthy lifestyles and work environments.

“We’re a considerable game changer that many developers for the past 30 years have been trying to implement and get kick started. Now we’re proving that out,” Bevirt says. “You have a flight to quality where people are looking for a better opportunity in the way of their office environment and from a qualitative standpoint, it is the highest quality building in the market. Tenants are seeking out these better amenities.”

Multiple prospective tenants from industries of technology to health sciences have shown interest in Thousand & One, including RSM, Suffolk Construction, ReliaQuest, and Sila Realty Trust Inc. who have already signed leases. Cushman & Wakefield, a global commercial real estate services firm, is responsible for handling leasing efforts of the new office space.

Advertised as “an environment designed for growth, primed for tomorrow,” the team behind Thousand & One are implementing this ideal space for businesses to thrive and advance in their line of work. “[This] product is very different than the current stock of commercial office buildings,” Bevirt says. “We’re delivering something that is very different to the market and that was the intent.”

To see more images and get more information on leasing, visit the new Thousand & One office building. To see all what else is going on around it, visit Water Street Tampa.

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Read more articles by Lauren Wong.

Lauren Wong is a graduate of the University of Tampa with a degree in journalism who is freelancing while she looks for a full-time job. Originally from the Chicago area, she enjoys travel and aspires to be a travel photojournalist. During the summer of 2019, she worked for Premier Travel Media in Chicago and as a correspondent for Input Fort Wayne, another Issue Media group online magazine based in Indiana. She loves spending time outdoors camping, kayaking, and taking pictures.