21-story Hyde Park House to Break Ground by Year's End
After selling out all 253 condos in the 41-story ONE St. Petersburg, Kolter Group is full steam ahead on Tampa's Hyde Park House. Construction on the 21-story, 70-unit Hyde Park House should begin by the end of 2019, said Bob Vail, president of Kolter Urban. The tower's design had to be approved by the city's Architecture Review Commission. The ARC signed off on the project in early April after Kolter and BDG Architects met with neighborhood associations from the surrounding area in advance of the public meetings. BDG Architects consulted on the design and helped get the project approved through the ARC.
Tampa Bay Business Journal
After selling out all 253 condos in the 41-story ONE St. Petersburg, Kolter Group is full steam ahead on two new luxury towers in the Tampa Bay region — in Tampa's Hyde Park and in downtown St. Petersburg.
Construction on both the 21-story, 70-unit Hyde Park House and the 192-unit, 34-story Saltaire should begin by the end of 2019, said Bob Vail, president of Kolter Urban.
About 30 units in Saltaire have been reserved, Vail said; the first reservation for Hyde Park House was taken on May 7. ONE St. Pete buyers were given first dibs on units in Saltaire; the first reservation for Hyde Park House came after a presentation to real estate brokers.
Condos in Saltaire start at $900,000; Hyde Park House units start at $1 million. Saltaire has four penthouses priced as high as $5 million; there are three penthouses at the Hyde Park tower, priced in the $4 millions.
"Once the market tells us the model is acceptable, that the formula is well-received, that’s when we decide to move forward [with construction]," Vail said. "Only good things happen when you start sooner. Buyer confidence goes way up. Until you start, all you're doing is estimating when you’re going to finish. That’s a big deal in the marketplace."
Hyde Park House will be built on a site that was once ground zero for a contentious legal battle over a previously proposed development. The property is within the Hyde Park historic district — which was appealing to Kolter, Vail said — but also brought an additional layer to the development process, as the tower's design had to be approved by the city's Architecture Review Commission.
"We felt the gamble was what could we get approved there — not the underlying land value," Vail said. "Even if we had to revise the project five times, we still felt the value would be there because of the uniqueness of the site."
The ARC signed off on the project in early April after Kolter met with neighborhood associations from the surrounding area in advance of the public meetings, said Truett Gardner, a land-use attorney and partner at Gardner Brewer Martinez-Monfort in Tampa.
Gardner represented Kolter in the development process.
"The overwhelming majority of people were comfortable with the design," Gardner said. "It was a much better process to go that route."
The Hyde Park House will be a bit of a departure from Kolter's typical designs, Vail said.
"It's a tiered building — some people describe it as a wedding-cake concept," he said. "There are a lot of different floor plans and they’re not our usual offerings in terms of a more simple and straightforward design like ONE. It's a little bit more unique, and I think it’s going to feel like a boutique building."