Hanukkah celebration brings more people to downtown Tampa's Water Street

TAMPA, Fla. - The fifth night of Hanukkah lit up Water Street in downtown Tampa for the "Night of Lights."

The event is one of many happening at downtown’s new neighborhood now that phase one is complete.

"We have a lot of small businesses, we have national tenants, we have regional retailers, and it’s so important to have foot traffic, to have people come down here to know we’re getting open, to know this is here, to know the diversity of the offering, everything from quick service restaurants, to sit down, to shopping," said Lee Schaffler with Strategic Property Partners.

Water Street held a Christmas event and now a Hanukkah celebration. A monthly outdoor market was also recently announced and that will begin next year.

The events are bringing people to this new addition to downtown, helping give a lot of exposure to all the new businesses coming in.

"We’re insanely excited to be a part of it, so we’re only a few weeks away from opening our locations and just so excited to be part of the neighborhood here," said Kyle Smith, the CEO of Cru Hospitality Group.

The company is opening a wine shop and a restaurant at Water Street Tampa.

"We love seeing the growth of Tampa, we love growing right alongside of it, and it’s a great time to be here in Tampa," said Smith.

It’s been a long time coming and downtown’s newest neighborhood is only going to get bigger with new phases in the works.

"Even with pouring rain, we had all these people come out, and it just shows how committed people are and how interested they are in partaking in the events we’re going to have and how curious they are to see what strategic property partners is doing at water street, it’s been this great secret, and now we get to unveil it, rip the gift wrap off and show what we built to the Tampa region," said Schaffler.