Feeling a Spark with Walbridge The park at Sparkman Wharf has celebrated tremendous success since its opening last November. Work continues on the building as the renovations to the façade and interior of the future loft-style office and ground-floor retail plans are built out. The team constructing the project is Walbridge, a 103-year-old full-service construction company that has worked on high profile projects in Florida such as Spaceship Earth (the geodesic sphere at Epcot), the renovation at Tampa City Hall, and one of Sparkman Wharf’s neighbors in the Water Street Tampa neighborhood, the Tampa Bay History Center. Walbridge is actively working on the property’s entire exterior façade, reroofing, ground-floor retail improvements, public spaces and lobbies, and infrastructure – including stairways and elevators. As of this issue, there are an average of 80 workers on site daily helping to transform the space from its original condition to the 150,000 square feet of future creative office space. Recent progress includes the completion of the new office lobby along the western portion of Channelside Drive with work continuing around the remainder of the building. The exterior renovations are slated to be substantially completed by mid-2020.
On the interior facing the park, work on the new second-floor office canopy is 50 percent complete. The addition of this canopy will provide shade and covered outdoor workspaces to future office tenants – including the SPP team – overlooking the Sparkman Wharf shipping containers and lawn. On the ground floor, retail tenant activity is well underway. Semolina, a pasta bar concept, among other tenants including Free the Cork, a wine bar and charcuterie concept, have started their individual build outs, with an expectation to open to the public in April of 2020.