701 N Florida Ave
For sale701 N Florida Ave, Tampa, FL 33602
Property type
Multifamily, Land
Property description
Franklin Street is pleased to offer a 0.97-acre development site in Downtown Tampa’s Central Business District, located at 701 N Florida Ave. The offering is a rare chance to acquire a large, entitled site in the urban core with substantial site work already completed. Work in place includes caissons and a post-tensioned parking podium built through Level 5, both engineered to support a 27–29 story tower. The site was previously approved for a 29-story, 432-unit residential tower with a 400-space structured garage and more than 6,000 SF of ground-floor retail. A buyer can start vertical construction sooner, and with less below-grade cost and risk, than on an unimproved site. The existing podium and structured parking were designed to support a high-density residential program, positioning multifamily as the likely highest and best use of the site. Market fundamentals reinforce that view, with Class A rental towers in the urban core averaging 92% occupancy and institutional developers recently commencing construction on new rental projects nearby. The entitlements also leave a buyer room to pursue other strategies. CBD-1 zoning permits condominium, student housing, hospitality, office and retail uses by right, with no limit on density or floor area, and building height is governed by airport zoning rather than the zoning code. The Property is in the heart of Downtown Tampa, within about a mile of the Riverwalk, the Channel District / Water Street and Ybor City. Steady growth in residents, jobs and students, along with billions of dollars in public and private investment, supports long-term demand for the next multifamily tower in Tampa’s urban core.
Property highlights
- A HEAD START ON VERTICAL CONSTRUCTIONSignificant site work is already in place, including caissons and a post-tensioned parking podium built through Level 5, both engineered to carry a 27–29 story multifamily tower. Much of the cost, schedule and risk of excavation and below-grade construction is behind a buyer, which shortens the path to vertical construction and reduces risk compared with an unimproved downtown site.
- AT THE CENTER OF DOWNTOWN’S GROWTHThe Property is in the heart of Downtown Tampa, in close proximity to the Riverwalk, the Channel District / Water Street and Ybor City, the urban core’s three most active districts. Greater downtown’s population has grown 48% since 2015, and the area now supports 81,200 jobs. Billions of dollars in master-planned development nearby will add more than 10,000 new residences, along with significant new office, hotel and retail space. That growth puts the site at the center of one of the most active urban redevelopment stories in the Southeast.
- DEEP AND DIVERSE DEMAND DRIVERSThe University of Tampa is at record enrollment (11,429), with more students than it can house. USF Health’s medical school is at Water Street, and TGH, ranked #1 in Tampa Bay, is a mile away. Add a growing roster of corporate headquarters and relocations and Florida’s lack of a state income tax, and there is demand across rental, for-sale, and student housing.
- INFRASTRUCTURE COMING TO THE FRONT DOORThe City’s planned TECO Streetcar extension would run up N Florida Avenue directly past the site, with concept stops at Florida & Kennedy and at Tampa & Cass. The surrounding region is also investing heavily in major infrastructure, including Tampa International Airport’s $1.5B Airside D (2029), Port Tampa Bay’s fourth cruise terminal (2029) and Tampa General Hospital’s $520M Taneja Tower (2028), about a mile from the site.
- PROVEN DOWNTOWN RENTAL DEMANDRecently delivered Class A towers are achieving strong rents and occupancy. At Water Street, Heron, Cora and Asher (1,200 units) average $3,987 in monthly asking rent ($4.91/SF), and AER, delivered in 2024, is 94% occupied. Downtown’s renter base is young and high-earning, with a median age of 33.6 and a median household income of $125,109.
- ENTITLEMENT FLEXIBILITY AT SCALECBD-1 zoning permits multifamily, condominium, student housing, hotel, office and retail uses by right, with no limit on density or floor area. Building height is governed by airport zoning and FAA review rather than the zoning code. Downtown’s reduced parking minimums and the structured parking already built into the existing podium leave a buyer free to set the program, scale and capital structure that best fit its strategy.