By Richard Danielson
TAMPA — Two national real estate companies have signed on to co-develop and market 220,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space at the $500 million Midtown Tampa project, owner and master developer Bromley Companies said Wednesday.
Between the two, Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate, based in Cincinnati, and Casto Southeast Realty Services, with its national offices in Columbus, Ohio and a regional office in Sarasota, have developed and owned more than 30 million square feet of retail real estate with an emphasis on “lifestyle centers” that focus on creating customer experiences.
The mix of shops in Midtown’s ground-floor stores will create “the environment for the entire project,” J.R. Anderson of Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate said in a statement released through Bromley.
“By orchestrating a mixed-use development that carefully selects the retail and entertainment tenants, we can truly create an 18-hour environment where people can work and play from before sun-up until after sun-down,” he said.
That aligns with Bromley’s vision for a project where the different types of development — apartments, offices, hotels and restaurants — create continuous, integrated activity that feeds off residents and visitors hopping from one place at Midtown Tampa to another. In an interview earlier this year, Bromley Companies chief executive officer Nicholas Haines said, “where we think the world’s going is … how do you curate the experience when you’re there? To us, that’s kind of what makes a great place.”
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Casto Southeast president Brett Hutchens said both companies have worked as partners on other mixed-use projects and have a “a long-standing working relationship” and “a heavy emphasis on retail, particularly within mixed-used projects.”
“Their industry expertise, especially with mixed-use projects, will be a major contributor to Midtown’s success as a dominant retail destination in the Tampa region,”Haines said in an announcement of the partnership.
Bromley began construction this spring on the first phase, with completion expected in early 2021 in time for the Super Bowl’s return to Tampa.
The 22-acre project at N Dale Mabry Highway and Interstate 275 includes 1.8 million square feet of development, with a dual-branded hotel with a rooftop gathering place, a 7-story office building with ground-floor retail, nearly 400 apartments and the bay area’s largest Whole Foods Market. Two restaurants, the Oprah-backed True Food Kitchen and Burtons Bar & Grill will make their first appearance in this market at Midtown, along with a new restaurant by chef Chris Ponte, known for Café Ponte in Clearwater and On Swann in South Tampa.
