Dive Brief:

• Developers for the $3 billion Water Street Tampa mixed-use complex in downtown Tampa, FL, unveiled details and renderings of the project on Tuesday, according to Bay News 9.
• The 57-acre, 9-million-square-foot project will take approximately nine years to complete and will include the first new downtown office building in 25 years, a mix of 1,400 condominiums and apartments, two hotels, retail and the University of South Florida's Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute. The medical facility is scheduled for completion in late 2019 and will be the first of the district's 18 buildings to open for business.
• The developer of the project is Strategic Property Partners, which is a joint venture between Bill Gates' Cascade Investment and Jeff Vinik, the owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL team.

Dive Insight:

In October 2015, the International Well Building Institute (IWBI) announced that the Tampa development would aim for WELL-certified district certification. IWBI co-founder Paul Scialla said in a press release at the time that developers now have the ability to design cities that promote health instead of harming it. The Tampa project seeks to do minimize or eliminate pollution, noise and other negative environmental factors often found in an urban environment.

The WELL standard focuses on building features that impact the health and wellbeing of its occupants. Because the standard is relatively new, there are many WELL "firsts" popping up in various parts of North America. In March, construction services company Structure Tone earned the first WELL office certification in New York City. and earlier this month, global real estate firm CBRE became the first office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to achieve WELL office certification.

Downtown Tampa has seen a spate of development activity recently, including plans for a three-tower, mixed-use complex near the University of Tampa. The 1.8-million-square-foot Lafayette Place will feature office space, a hotel and residential units, as well as dining and entertainment options.