The fight for Channelside Bay Plaza is officially over.
Now begins a new challenge: remaking downtown Tampa’s Channel District.
Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik is Channelside’s new owner, thanks to the last-second settlement that ended the yearlong court fight over downtown’s outdoor mall. The deal was hammered out Sunday night and approved Monday by a bankruptcy judge.
Channelside is the latest addition to the downtown real estate empire Vinik has spent four years assembling around his hockey team. The hedge fund multimillionaire owns the lease to the Tampa Bay Times Forum, 23 neighboring acres and now, finally, Channelside.