Tampa's Gasworx district hits milestone with La Unión

With a nod to the past, Ybor City’s future is taking shape.

La Unión Residence and Social Hall, a 317-luxury apartment community and the first development in the mammoth mixed-use Gasworx district, has opened its doors and welcomed its first residents. 

Ybor City developer Darryl Shaw and Washington D.C.-based development firm KETTLER partnered on the 50-acre Gasworx district to fill the gap between the redevelopment that’s transformed downtown areas like Water Street and the Channel District and the redevelopment taking place in Ybor. It’s part of a vision to establish Tampa’s urban core as a series of connected mixed-use neighborhoods where the streetcar, biking and walking are viable options for getting around.

Carole Devillers La Unión's lush, spacious first-floor lounge areaWith La Unión, on the 1700 block of Nuccio Parkway, and a 390-apartment seven-story building under construction directly to its south, Gasworx is starting with residential development to support the retail and restaurant space that’s coming. At build-out, Gasworx is planned for 5,000 residences, 500,000 square feet of office space and 150,000 square feet of retail. 

“Opening La Unión is significant but what is even more significant is that this is the first development within Gasworx that is opening up,” KETTLER Senior Vice President of Multifamily Development Graham Tyrrell says during a November 2nd ribbon-cutting. “Gasworx is eventually going to be close to 18 developments like this. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of work ahead of us but this is a real milestone for us.”

KETTLER entered the Tampa Bay market with Gasworx and subsequently opened a Tampa office on East Seventh Avenue in Ybor. In recent years, Shaw has developed retail, residential, office and mixed-use projects in Ybor through a mix of redevelopment, historic renovation and new construction. The goal is to return Ybor to its roots as a bustling urban residential neighborhood with more jobs, retail shops and restaurants and more daytime activity and foot traffic. 

The best way to get there, he says, is to begin with a focus on residential projects.

“I think the key to Ybor’s revitalization is more people living there,” Shaw says. “For a while, I was focused on Seventh Avenue and how do we diversify it and activate it with things to do during the day as well as at night. I actually think that will come but it will come after we have more people living in the district. We’re starting to get a really good residential base. I think that is going to be key to transforming the district because the people who will be living there are going to want a gym. They’re going to want a grocery store. They’re going to want to get their nails done and their hair done. They’re going to want retail.”

In the last few months, more than 600 apartments have opened to attract and accommodate more residents. In July, Shaw’s firm Casa Ybor opened Casa Marti,Carole DevillersCasa Marti opened at Ybor's western gateway in July a 127-unit apartment at the Ybor Historic District’s western gateway, a short walk down Nuccio Parkway from La Unión. Miles at Ybor, 170 fully-furnished micro-unit apartments with retail space, has opened on the 1700 block of 17th Street. 

Now comes La Unión. Designed by Stephanie Gaines of GROH Architects with general contractor Juneau Construction in charge of construction, La Unión’s brick exterior is inspired by the simple elegance of Ybor’s historic cigar factories. It’s named for Sociedad La Union Marti-Maceo, the mutual aid society and social club for Ybor’s Afro-Cuban community that once stood on the site. During the 1960s, its building was torn down in the name of urban renewal and La Union Marti-Maceo relocated to the 1200 block of East Seventh Avenue, where it now shares a block with Casa Marti and its sister project, the Casa Gomez office building. In an area of La Unión’s lavishly decorated first-floor clubhouse and lounge, black and white photos pay tribute to La Union Marti-Maceo. 

Carole DevillersLa Unión's resort-style poolBesides the ornate and spacious first-floor common area, amenities at La Unión include a resort-style pool with private cabanas, landscaped courtyards, a two-story fitness area, a large co-working space and a pet spa. 

“Ybor is urban,” Shaw says. “It’s gritty, gritty in a good way. La Unión feels like this oasis. It’s lush. It’s tropical. The interior design beckons back to the 20s, 30s and 40s. So you can be right in the urban core with all the benefits of walkability, the trolley, being able to get to downtown, to Water Street, to Armature Works, but it feels like an oasis.”

On the top floor, there’s a speakeasy-inspired lounge area and a terrace that overlooks Ybor and the future phases of Gasworx. In a few months, construction is expected to start on four new buildings on the other side of Nuccio Parkway. That phase includes the renovation and transformation of an old warehouse building into an upscale food hall and retail space.

“That will really be the heart and core of the Gasworx development,” Tyrrell says at the ribbon-cutting event. “It will be a true mixed-use project with residential, office, retail. It will also include a streetcar stop and a park, a lot of public amenities in addition to businesses.”

For more information, go to Gasworx and La Union