New Developer, New Resolution for Trump Tower Tampa

By Georgiana Mihaila, Associate Editor

The vacant land known by many as the Trump Tower Tampa site now has new owners and a new resolution. Both the site and the adjacent CapTrust Building traded for a total of $5 million; they are now the property of Brownstone Tampa Partners.

The riverfront site, currently the only undeveloped parcel in the downtown core, traded for $16 million back in 2004, when former developer SimDag/Robel L.L.C. had plans of turning it into a 52-story luxury condominium complex. The $80,000, three-foot scale model of the building that was on display in the tower’s sale center detailed SimDag/RoBEL’s plans for what was to become the tallest building in Tampa; with prices ranging from $700,000 to more than $6 million per unit, even Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Yankees players have showed interest in the condos.

Unable to get the required $300 million in financing, the developer had prepped the land for construction but did not get any further. In addition, the name of the project had produced controversy, with the right to use the name purchased from Donald Trump. After SimDag filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008, buyers claimed they were misled into believing that Trump was the one building the tower, resuling in many lawsuits.

The new owners, Brownstone Tampa Partners—an investment partnership of O,R&L Facility Services, Owens Realty Network and Community Reinvestment Partners II L.P., representing a joint venture of Forge Capital Partners L.L.C. and DeBartolo Development L.L.C.—plan a mixed-use project that is to include retail, restaurants, office space and hotel, as reported by The Tampa Tribune. As for CapTrust, the existing six-story Class B office building, the new owners plan to actively market 15,845 square feet of office space, given that merely 60 percent of the building is currently leased.

A first step in the proposed development of the site will be the completion of the Tampa Riverwalk, along 350 feet of vacant land that will be tied to the Brorein Street Bridge, which the city is currently building.