At first, cow pastures and orange groves made up the landscape of Tampa’s Westshore District. Then, in 1928, an airport was built that decades later became Tampa International Airport. In 1967, WestShore Plaza mall opened, and soon a few office buildings rose on West Shore Boulevard, developed by the late Al Austin.
The area now boasts some 6,500 businesses, the largest commercial office district on the West Coast of Florida, according to Westshore Alliance, an association of businesses that focuses on promoting the Westshore area. Bordered by Hillsborough Avenue, Kennedy Boulevard, Himes Avenue, and Old Tampa Bay, the district’s other key assets include Raymond James Stadium, International Plaza and Bay Street, and the New York Yankees’ George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Becoming a bustling mixed-use district
But the effort now is to change from a place where people drive to work and shop to a place where they can walk from the apartment to the office, shops, and restaurants. The Westshore Alliance envisions a mixed-use urban environment.
“For the overall perspective of the Westshore District, it makes it a much more vibrant community, not just from a development perspective but from an overall economic perspective,’’ says Michael Maurino, Executive Director of the Westshore Alliance.
“Going from primarily an office district to being a mixed-use district creates a different type of environment going forward,’’ he notes. “And especially after COVID, when you had more companies decide to go full or part-time working from home, it creates opportunity for more residential to come in in places where it would be viable.’’
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Provided by Westshore AllianceMidtown TampaMidtown Tampa is a stunning example of an established mixed-use development. It’s a walkable mini-downtown at the intersection of Dale Mabry and Cypress, with offices, apartment buildings, hotels, a Whole Foods store, a small park, and a variety of ground-floor shops, including Sephora, Squeeze Massage, Casper mattress store, MyEyeDr, REI Tampa, William Dean Chocolates and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Restaurants include Ponte Modern American, BellaBrava, True Food Kitchen, Walk-Ons Sports Bistreaux, and Colony Grill.
Mellanie Crooker just moved into an apartment in Midtown Tampa two weeks ago. She also lives in Washington state. She was out for a walk recently with her tiny black poodle, Monique. She says she has explored her little neighborhood and found a favorite restaurant so far, BellaBrava. She plans to try Ponte soon.
“My son lives in Lutz, and I wanted to be close to him but also around mostly where I could do a lot of walking to everything. It’s convenient. it’s nice, it’s safe,’’ she says. “I love it.’’
Other planned mixed-use developments include the transformation of WestShore Plaza into a complex of offices, residence buildings, retail, and dining; and 1515 North Westshore Tower, with two residence towers and a 7,000-square foot restaurant. In the works is MetWest at Boy Scout Road and Lois Avenue, featuring a hotel, offices, residences, shops, and restaurants.
Apartment buildings have popped up throughout the district, among them the 180-unit, 11-story Emerson at Rocky Point, completed in 2023; the 323-unit, six-story Seazen Rocky Point Apartments, completed in 2018; the 24-unit, three-story
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Crescent CommunitiesNOVEL Beach Park Monterey Townhomes at Himes and Arch Street and the 277-unit NOVEL at Independence Park and the 289-unit NOVEL Beach Park on the waterfront, open this year.
Creating a “grand boulevard”
Westshore Alliance’s strategic plan calls for turning West Shore Boulevard from Kennedy to Spruce into a “grand boulevard.’’ Maurino says that would mean burying the power lines on the east side of the road in order to widen the sidewalks and, with the expected transformation of office buildings to mixed-use, make it inviting to pedestrians. The Alliance wants to add beautiful landscaping to medians north of Interstate 275.
“The idea is to create a much more pedestrian-friendly boulevard. Because if it’s pedestrian-friendly, you encourage more uses,’’ he says. “If you have a retail location as part of your office building, if you have a residential property as part of your office building, your property is now a 24-hour property. And that creates a lot more value for the landowner, obviously, but it also adds to the vitality of the district.”
But they have to wait for Hillsborough County to resurface West Shore, a county road, before starting work. Maurino is hoping it will be resurfaced in 2025.
Patrick Kelly, Senior Vice President with Franklin Street, which arranged financing for and helped with development of the planned 1515 North Westshore Tower site, believes the complex will be a catalyst for mixed-use projects along West Shore Boulevard.
Kelly, a past president of the Westshore Alliance board, says he believes the owners of property along the boulevard are waiting for the market to “simmer down” before building.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it affected the cost of capital and “the metrics that developers want to see before they take the risk of coming out of the ground,’’ Kelly says. Inflation raised the cost of materials, hiking exponentially building costs. Interest rates rose but are now beginning to come down.
“So when you bring all that together, that created an issue to come out of the ground with apartments,’’ he says.
Kelly first arrived in the Westshore district in the mid-1970s, when there were WestShore Plaza, West Shore Boulevard office buildings, and not much else.
“Retail outside the mall was a bit of a laggard, just because we were very car-centric,’’ he says. “We didn’t have the so-called live-work-play. We didn’t really have but a couple of apartment complexes. Hotels were minimal.’’
It’s vital, he says, to find options other than cars to take people around the district and to the district from other areas of town.
Alliance’s goals and priorities
The Westshore Alliance’s strategic goals include completing sidewalks throughout the district, making roads and intersections safer for pedestrians, and reworking Gray Street to become a biking and pedestrian-safe corridor that will eventually connect with Cass Street and the Riverwalk in downtown Tampa.
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Westshore AllianceWestshore Alliance Executive Director Michael Maurino“Through our strategic plan, we’re looking for additional green space, whether it be trails or pedestrian pathways, things like that,’’ Maurino says.
Cypress Point Park, on Old Tampa Bay at the end of Cypress Street, is an under-used treasure, he says.
“Cypress Point Park, we believe, should be a major event space,’’ Maurino says.
It will be, he believes, if plans for it are realized.
“The Courtney Campbell Causeway Trail, which was an initiative of the Westshore Alliance going back 11 years ago, that’s been so successful that the new Howard Frankland Bridge will also have a trail on it,” Maurino says. “Where those two trails will intersect will be at Cypress Point Park. We’re working with the city parks department on a plan that would connect both those trails through that park.’’
The vision of the Westshore Alliance, as stated on its website, is to create a “premier mixed-use district that supports a thriving community for residents and businesses.’’ It’s happening.
For more information on the Westshore Alliance and district, go to Westshore Alliance