Element has Financing

The Tampa Tribune:TAMPA - One condo at a time, downtown's Franklin Street corridor is growing a skyline.The developer of the SkyPoint high-rise, under construction on Ashley Drive, said Tuesday it has secured financing and started construction on another tower nearby.The 34-story Element is to have 395 condo units and 15,500 square feet of retail space on the ground level. The developers would not release the tower's estimated cost.Even as homebuyers' appetite for condos appears to wane, Greg Minder of Novare-intown Tampa Development LLC said the company sees a demand in midlevel price ranges.Many of the condos proposed for downtown Tampa are priced from $600,000 to more than $1 million. Units in Element are expected to start in the low $200s and top out around the $600s. "We've seen the demand with SkyPoint," Minder said. "We believe in this market."The development partnership, Novare Group of Atlanta and intowngroup of Tampa, plans to finish the SkyPoint condo in the spring. Unitsthere started in the $170s. The tower is 99 percent sold out, the developer said.The developers also recently announced plans to build Twelve, a 47-story condo and hotel next to the Element site. Element and Twelve are to be built on two parcels the developers bought last year from TECO Energy, north of the SkyPoint Tower along Polk and Cass streets.While lending institutions generally require substantial pre-sales before they will grant developers a construction loan, Minder said his company is able to get financing before selling because "we have a good track record." It's easier to sell units once financing is in place, he said, because buyers can be more confident that the development will happen.The lenders on the Element are Corus Bank of Chicago and ArCap Finance Corp. of Irving, Texas. At one time, more than 30 condo projects were proposed for downtown Tampa, but several developers changed their minds.Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 at sbehnken@tampatrib.com.

Sales stats

Coming Attractions Filling Skyline

TBO- CHANNEL DISTRICT - As a wrap-up to 2006 in this booming neighborhood, the city council approved three residential projects: the 21-story Navio; the 29-story Novare-Intown development; and the 25-story Kennedy Residences of Channelside.

The trio will further change the face of the Channel District, a warehouse area serving the nearby Port of Tampa a mere five years ago.

Projects completed or under construction represent 1,657 residences, said Michael Chen, manager of the district's Community Redevelopment Area. Projects approved but not under construction, he said, could add 2,875 residential units.

Don't look for construction workers and giant cranes to be gone for at least 10 years.

Add all that to a population estimated at 100 to 200 and the Channel District will metamorphose into an urban core like none other in the Tampa Bay area.

The growth has brought a big pain: no parking. But Chen said most of the high-rises slated to open in 2007 will have internal parking for residents and visitors.

Arbel pulls plug on highrise

Arbel recently withdrew it's petiton to rezone the property adjacent to the Floridian.

The project, which would have been 459 feet tall, needed city council approval because the height limit in the area is 120 feet.