Water Street Tampa Lauded for Commitment to Health, Wellness
/By Paul Owers
The largest mixed-use development ever in Tampa, Florida, is the first project worldwide to achieve a precertification that recognizes communities for promoting health and wellness among residents, workers and visitors.
The International Well Building Institute of New York granted Water Street Tampa a Well Design & Operations designation, a step in the process toward a relatively new building standard certification. The $3 billion Water Street project, with the backing of Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and Tampa Bay Lightning professional hockey team owner Jeff Vinik, will bring offices, apartments, hotels and retail to the downtown area of Florida's third-largest city over the next eight to 10 years.
Strategic Property Partners, Water Street’s Tampa-based developer, said in a statement that it exceeded the city’s requirements for sidewalk width, making the project pedestrian-friendly. Other aspects of the development that helped achieve the designation include yoga in the park, filtered water bottle refilling stations, a community wellness center and a neighborhood grocer and farmer’s markets, the developer said in the statement.
“With the Well D&O designation, we have achieved a milestone and will continue to challenge the status quo” in building Water Street, James Nozar, chief executive officer of Strategic Property, said in the statement. “With the support of [International Well Building Institute], we believe that Water Street Tampa has already proven to be a model for international learning in best practices.”
The institute is a for-profit entity incorporated in 2013 to advocate for health and wellness in commercial buildings and communities worldwide.
Water Street was the first project to apply for and meet the requirements for the precertification, according to an institute spokeswoman. Sixteen other developments worldwide are currently seeking the designation. It is not certain that Water Street will be the first project to gain the final certification, which affirms a development's focus on air, water, building materials and other initiatives, the spokeswoman said in an interview.
The developer must finish construction and undergo performance testing to be awarded the certification. Costs associated with the certification were not immediately made available.
Reed Hilderbrand LLC is Water Street’s master landscape architect, while Elkus Manfredi Architects, which is based in Boston and has designed projects at Harvard University and The Shops and Restaurants at Hudson Yards in New York City, is the master planner.
Strategic Property said it also plans to seek LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council that recognizes developments that incorporate energy conservation standards. LEED is short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and the certification process is considered expensive by some developers.