First Trophy Office Tower Opens at Water Street Tampa

The first trophy office tower to be built in downtown Tampa, Fla., in nearly 30 years has opened in the $3.5 billion, 56-acre Water Street Tampa mixed-use district with the completion of Thousand & One. Strategic Property Partners LLC is behind the 20-story project offering 375,000 square feet of Class A office space.

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Thousand & One is also expected to be the first office building in the city to receive WELL Core and Shell certification from the International WELL Building Institute, which in May 2019 designated Water Street Tampa as the first pre-certified WELL neighborhood in the world.

Designed by COOKFOX, the tower has wellness features expected to attract tenants looking to upgrade their offices in the post-COVID-19 work environment. The building, located at 1001 Water St., features floor-to-ceiling windows with water-facing views, flexible floorplans and lushly landscaped terraces offering outdoor access. The floorplates have been designed to accommodate a range of tenant sizes. They also have double-height terraces to boost natural light and fresh air while offering indoor-outdoor office setups. Wellbeing initiatives include providing a higher standard for air filtration that offers more fresh outdoor air than traditional office buildings and implementing rigorous cleaning protocols.

SPP broke ground on the office tower in July 2019. The building, which has 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, also has a town-hall-style gathering place, open-air conference space and employee fitness center. SPP plans to unveil the public plaza and interactive art installation later this summer, all part of its efforts to create a collaborative community with the other assets within the district and attractions along Water Street’s thoroughfare.

David Bevirt, executive vice president of corporate leasing and strategy for SPP, said in a prepared statement employers and employees are seeking healthier workspaces that focus on the wellbeing of tenants. He said the Tampa-based real estate development firm created a best-in-class office space that is giving companies room to expand in the city and national companies a reason to relocate.

Leasing underway

In November, SPP selected Cushman & Wakefield to handle property management and leasing for both Thousand & One and 400 Channelside Drive, a 19-story, 500,000-square-office building that will be built in a future phase. SPP said Thousand & One has received strong interest from prospective tenants across a variety of industries, including professional services, technology, health sciences and coworking. The developer has already signed leases with RSM, a global accounting firm that is taking approximately 15,700 square feet in a 10-year lease; Suffolk Construction, which has leased about 8,500 square feet also in a 10-year lease; and Sila Realty Trust Inc., which has leased approximately 10,500 square feet for 10.5 years. Naked Farmer, a fast-casual dining chain, will occupy 1,900 square feet in the ground-floor retail space.

Water Street Tampa, which will eventually have about 2 million square feet of office space, is also leasing space at Sparkman Wharf, which offers 150,000 square feet of waterfront loft-style office space.

All buildings in Phase One are either completed or under construction and slated to deliver by early 2022. Planning is underway for Phase Two with details to come at a later date. Water Street Tampa is slated to have a total of 9 million square feet of commercial development, including 1 million square feet of retail/entertainment space, 3,500 apartments and nearly 1,600 guestrooms.