The Vinik-Cascade real estate team is looking to buoy tenants in Channelside Bay Plaza with a new promotion meant to reel in residents of the surrounding neighborhood.
Strategic Property Partners and Franklin Street — which SPP tapped to lease and manage the property — have launched the “Channelside Bay Plaza VIP card,” which is good for special promotions and offers at the plaza. Currently, for example, there’s a buy one get one free offer at Cold Stone Creamery and 25 percent off bowling, food and beverages at Splitsville.
Ali Glisson, a spokeswoman for SPP, said 12,000 households received the mailing.
“Thanks to our partners at Port Tampa Bay, we were able to open the wharf to the public earlier this summer, and now, in partnership with the plaza tenants, we’re launching this program as another way to connect with our neighbors in the Channel District,” Glisson wrote in an email Monday. “Ultimately, the plan is to grow and extend it to include other offers, such as special pricing for entrance to events hosted at Channelside Bay Plaza.”
The VIP program comes as the fate of the beleaguered retail property is still in flux. The plaza is part of the $2 billion mixed-use district that SPP is planning in downtown Tampa. SPP, controlled by Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and Cascade Investment LLC, acquired the ground lease to the plaza in 2014. Port Tampa Bay owns the land underneath the plaza.
SPP CEO James Nozar said Monday that he would be giving an update on the property to the port board on Sept. 20. He declined to specify whether that presentation would be a general update on the plaza or include redevelopment plans for the property.
Since taking over the ground lease, SPP has spent ” seven figures” on cosmetic upgrades to the plaza. In April, SPP moved its offices from Amalie Arena to 8,000 square feet on the second floor of the plaza as it prepared to ramp up hiring.
SPP has also hired an events manager to oversee programming at the plaza.
“We think by being there, clearly, we’ll be a lot more visible and approachable to the tenants as well,” Nozar told the port authority in April.
