Health, Wellness Network To Move Into Grand Central At Kennedy, Tampa

Health & Wellness Network -- parent company of Health & Wellness Channel (HWC) -- is moving to the Channel District.

A one-stop-shop for all things life, love and longevity, HWC will develop a 60,000-square-foot space in the Grand Central at Kennedy building in Channelside into its new headquarters. The space is expected to include four separate television studios, a 22,000-square-foot mezzanine for offices and 38,000 square feet of studio space, production offices, engineering and storage for Marketplace products.

According to HWC Founder Drew Nederpelt, the location also comes equipped with a street level studio space, Studio B, which can be viewed from the street much like the Today Show set-up in New York City.

“Just like in Rockefeller Center, there's a courtyard at Grand Central that we can use for concerts, fitness demonstrations, cooking contests and the like,” Nederpelt says. “There will be at least one morning each week that we'll have a celebrity in town for some type of event in the courtyard, which will bring people to the area.”

Joining tenants such as Channelside Bay Plaza, Powerhouse Gym and the Tampa Bay Times Forum, HWC is expected to bring in 85 employees in its first year of operation at the new location, as well as several hundred in the following years.

“We will not only increase demand for housing in the area, but also raise existing homeowners' investment values,” Nederpelt says. “Our ultimate goal is to make the Tampa Bay area the center of health and wellness in the United States. We're interested in helping along Channelside's current march toward a vibrant and bustling residential and entertainment destination, choosing to open up not only our studio, but also our Master and Studio Control to the viewing public in hopes that it will imbue the residents of the area with a sense of pride and ownership in the network and the overall health and wellness movement.

The network is slated to be in place at its new location by the end of 2012.

Writer: Alexis Quinn Chamberlain
Source: Drew Nederpelt, HWC