Darryl Shaw’s next Tampa development: Ybor Harbor, near Channelside
Ybor City real estate investor Darryl Shaw has unveiled another phase of his sprawling redevelopment plans just east of downtown Tampa.
Ybor Harbor, as it’s called, would include up to 2,586 residences, 140,400 square feet of office spaces, 292,260 square feet of retail space and 375 hotel rooms on 33 acres enveloping the northern tip of the Ybor Channel, near Port Tampa Bay’s cruise terminals.
According to plans filed with the city on Thursday, the project would turn a prominent piece of industrial land into a walkable waterfront district with park space, a boardwalk, a marina, a public pier and “floating islands” that would “improve the water quality, provide new habitat for local species and create natural screening of the adjacent industrial uses.”
It would sit just south of Shaw’s Gas Worx development, a 41-acre project with residences, offices and retail on the southwestern edge of Ybor City, serving as a link to Tampa’s Channel District and beyond.
“Ybor Harbor is a transformative new addition to the fabric stitching together our urban neighborhoods from Ybor City to the Channel District, Water Street, Gas Worx, and our downtown core,” Shaw said in a statement. “Our focus is on creating a vibrant neighborhood, enhancing connectivity, and bringing the public to our city’s cherished waterfront.”
Shaw last year reached a deal to purchase 25 acres of the property from International Ship Repair, the Tampa shipyard that’s operated there for some 40 years. The purchase will be phased over the next few years while the company finds a new home, with the first tracts of land potentially changing hands later this year.
Until then, Shaw’s team is getting their ducks in order by asking the city for a planned development zoning designation for the property, bordered by Channelside Drive to the west, 19th Street to the west, and Adamo Drive and the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
The land is already partially zoned for mixed-use development, as another developer made similar plans for the site 15 years ago that never came to fruition.
A site plan filed with the city describes the property as “invaluable from a design perspective,” with the potential to “activate the waterfront” in a traditionally industrial part of the city. Renderings show tree-lined streets and tall office and residential towers, the heights of which will be guided by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We have seen the immense benefits to the community by thoughtfully investing in opening up our city’s waterfront over the last decade,” Mayor Jane Castor said in a statement. “I am excited to see a vision for Ybor Harbor that continues that work and further activates our natural environment.”
