The first hotel in Tampa’s Channel District is nearing an opening, another milestone in the transformation of the former warehouse district between downtown and Port Tampa Bay into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood.
The dual-branded Hampton Inn & Home2 Suites is slated to open in late June, says Punit Shah, CEO of the Liberty Group, the Tampa-based hotel development, and management company behind the project.
The hotel’s Starbucks could open as soon as June 17, Shah says, bringing a new coffee shop option for hotel guests as well as residents and workers in the district.
The 10-story, 215-room hotel on the southeast corner of Meridian Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard has already generated significant interest and future bookings, Shah says.
The Hampton Inn & Home2 Suites is not the only significant addition to the Channel District opening its doors later this year.
The Publix supermarket at the base of the 22-story Channel Club apartments on Meridian Avenue and Madison Street is scheduled to open in August. Publix will join established boutique grocer Duckweed Urban Market, which is adding locations in other Tampa neighborhoods, as a walkable option for downtown dwellers.
The University of South Florida’s 13-story Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute is on track to open by December. In May, construction of the state-of-the-art medical facility shifted to the interior of the building, USF says in a news release. Built in close proximity to the Channel District, the $3 billion Water Street Tampa mixed-use development and USF Health’s main teaching hospital, Tampa General, the new College of Medicine location is projected to have a $56 million annual economic impact, according to USF.
Here are links to learn more about the projects in this story: Liberty Group, Morsani College of Medicine, and Water Street Tampa.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.