A flour mill complex near downtown Tampa, Florida, that dates back to 1938 has been purchased by a property development firm that intends to take down the silos and other structures.
Strategic Property Partners LLC (SPP), based in Tampa, has reportedly paid $13 million for the land and buildings as part of its Water Street Tampa downtown development project.
Fox 13 News in Tampa says SPP is at least partially owned by Jeff Vinik, who also owns the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning. The station says “demolition could come as early as this summer” for the flour mill complex.
Local politicians quoted in the Fox 13 article express support for the demolition project and the station’s writeup refers to the silos as “a giant barricade that separates downtown” from the nearby Channelside neighborhood.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is quoted as saying of the project, “I think it’s going to present an incredible opportunity [to] really continue that dynamic urban core that we’ve been creating the last few years.”
Also quoted is Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen, who says of the project, “I think this particular piece was always key to sort of opening up the passageways between those neighborhoods.”
On its LinkedIn page, SPP refers to Water Street Tampa as its first project, but also a big ticket one. “Water Street Tampa is being developed on over 50 acres of contiguous land the company owns in downtown Tampa along the waterfront,” SPP writes. “The phased Water Street Tampa development project [is] revitalizing the downtown core into an urban, mixed-use waterfront district consisting of approximately 9 million square feet of new commercial, residential, hospitality, cultural, entertainment, education and retail uses, totaling over $3 billion in private investment from SPP.”
The former operator of the flour mill, Denver-based Ardent Mills, spent some $100 million to build a new facility at the Port Redwing facility near Gibsonton, Florida. It completed its move to that 10-acre facility earlier this year, according to Baking Business.