Designing Water Street Tampa takes a dozen firms

The developer of Water Street Tampa, a mixed-use development spanning more than 50 acres along downtown Tampa’s waterfront, announced that a dozen firms are designing the project, including two architecture firms based in South Florida.

Coral Gables-based Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates is designing a 500-key hotel, and Miami-based Gensler is designing two commercial buildings with offices over retail space.

Two other Florida architecture firms also are part of Water Street Tampa’s design team: Alfonso Architects of Tampa and Orlando-based Baker Barrios.

Five New York-based firms are designing components of Water Street Tampa. They include architecture firms Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, Morris Adjmi Architects and CookFox Architects, and interior design firms Champalimaud and Roman & Williams.

The rest of the design team includes Toronto-based interior designer Cecconi Simone and two architecture firms, Seattle-based Olson Kundig, and New Haven, Connecticut-based Pickard Chilton.

The developer of Water Street Tampa is Strategic Property Partners LLC, a joint venture linking Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment, LLC  and Jeffrey Vinik, owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning professional hockey team.

Plans for the multi-phase Water Street Tampa project include construction of two million square feet of office space, one million square feet of street-level retail and entertainment space, two hotels with more than 650 rooms, and 3,500 rental and for-sale residences.

The project also includes the planned $40 million renovation of an existing hotel, Marriott Waterside, and construction of a new home for the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine and Health Heart Institute.

The first phase of Water Street Tampa is scheduled for completion by the end of 2020, and the entire development is expected to be complete by 2027.