Earlier this summer, the installation of more than $200 million in infrastructure, including new roadways and utilities, began in support of Water Street Tampa, a mixed-use neighborhood on 50 waterfront acres in this South Florida metro that, when completed in 2027, will include more than 9 million sf of residential, commercial, entertainment, cultural, and retail space.
Being built on what once were surface parking lots and industrial buildings, the $3 billion Water Street Tampa project is the vision of Strategic Property Partners (SPP), a development joint venture between Cascade Investment, which is controlled by Microsoft’s cofounder Bill Gates; and Jeff Vinik, who owns the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL franchise and the Tampa Bay Storm arena football team, and is a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox.
Gates and Vinik are the latest billionaire-entrepreneurs—others include Under Armour’s Kevin Plank in Baltimore and Quicken Loans’ Dan Gilbert in Detroit and Cleveland—to invest heavily in urban redevelopment and construction to reinvigorate economically challenged downtown areas.