Homebuilder buys land in Westshore Marina District

Cheryl Rogers | Monday, June 12, 2017

Premier homebuilder WCI Communities has purchased 2.35 acres for $2.5 million as part of a $14.5 million, two-phase land deal in the Westshore Marina District, a walkable planned community off Westshore Boulevard south of Gandy Boulevard.

The developer, Fort Lauderdale-based BTI Partners, announced the land deal with WCI, which plans to build 35 three-story townhouses in the 52-acre master planned community. WCI also has agreed to purchase a second, 9.5 acre waterfront site, with a closing anticipated by early 2018, BTI Partners announced.

WCI declined to provide details.

“It [Westshore Marina District] is adjacent to some of the best housing and residential areas of Tampa,” says Beck Daniel, BTI Partners' Executive VP of Development.

Although land in the area has historically been industrial, it’s not regarded as such now. “We haven’t really looked at it as an industrial area. We’ve just looked at it as ripe for redevelopment,” Daniel says.

Earlier plans to develop the property didn’t materialize because of the economic downturn.

BTI Partners addresses neighborhood issues like lack of usable waterfront, walkability, and traffic in its development plan, Daniel says.

The community, designed to transform the waterfront, may include up to 1,750 residential units, a 200-room hotel, retail, restaurants and office space, 185 to 240 marina slips and a 1.5 mile-waterfront park. The 14-acre marina basin will be the largest in the area.

“We like the Tampa market,” says Daniel.“We’re all over the state. We try and stick to the big metros.”

Earlier this year, BTI Partners sold eight acres in the development to Miami-based Related Group, which also is building an eight-story apartment complex on the site of the former Tampa Tribune building at 202 S. Parker St.

Twenty acres in the Westshore Marina District remain unspoken for. “We try not to talk too much about the future phases until we get there,” Daniel says. “We’re hoping to announce some retail parcels soon.”

BTI Partners is proceeding with the infrastructure.“By the end of this year, we’ll have an entry road coming into the project,” he asserts. “We’re excited because everything seems to be moving forward without a hitch.

Read more articles by Cheryl Rogers.

Cheryl Rogers is a freelance writer and editor who enjoys writing about careers. An ebook author, she also writes Bible Camp Mystery series that shares her faith. She is publisher of New Christian Books Online Magazine and founder of the Mentor Me Career Network, a free online community, offering career consulting, coaching and career information. Now a wife and mother, Cheryl discovered her love of writing as a child when she became enthralled with Nancy Drew mysteries. She earned her bachelor's degree in Journalism and Sociology from Loyola University in New Orleans. While working at Loyola's Personnel Office, she discovered her passion for helping others find jobs. A Miami native, Cheryl moved to the Temple Terrace area in 1985 to work for the former Tampa Tribune.