Office building designed for health and wellness opens on Water Street

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Wellness drives design of new Tampa office building

Justin Matthews reports

A 20-story office building that is part of the Water Street Tampa project officially opened its doors on Thursday.

The building, called Thousand & One, is Well-certified by the International Well Building Institute, meaning it meets criteria aimed at advancing human health and well-being.

"Well really does embrace what you're doing in the way of your work experience, so it's about testing for light, testing for air, it's testing for water, to make certain everything is healthy," said Dave Bevirt, the executive vice president of corporate leasing strategy for Strategic Property Partners. "In fact, we're providing for 40% of fresh air, we're providing with MERV filters that are a much higher standard than your typical office building; these are all things that really try to enhance the life experience for an office tenant."

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Exclusive first look inside Tampa's Heron high-rise

We’ve seen the building blocks of Tampa’s new Water Street. Construction workers and towering cranes have been fixtures here for several years. But now, we’re seeing the first residents of Tampa’s new $3 billion dollar downtown district.

Developers say there is high demand for companies to get back into an office setting, but to do so in a safe way, post-pandemic.

"We're starting to see it as it relates to out-of-town companies that have established that continuity and now they're starting to look for opportunities that are outside of gateway markets like California, Chicago, New York, Boston, DC, now the market has woken up and they're coming here," said Bevirt.

PREVIOUS: Downtown Tampa's Water Street designers celebrate 'topping off' of development's largest building

Two tenants will be moving in by September, then the third tenant is expected to move in sometime in January -- a global accounting firm, a large general contractor, and a real estate investment company.

Strategic Property Partners says it will be announcing a large flagship company soon.

MORE: Tampa's first Water Street residents move into new Heron high-rise