Tampa, Fla.’s new Cornelia Corbett Center and Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park is a $49 million project in downtown located along the Tampa Riverwalk.

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The city of Tampa, Fla., is in the midst of several infrastructure projects that will help update the city’s water system and beautify the environment. One such project is the new Cornelia Corbett Center and Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, a $49 million project in downtown and located along the Tampa Riverwalk, a 2.2 mile pedestrian walkway being constructed on the east side of the Hillsborough River, running from the Channelside area through the Central Business District to Tampa Heights.

The 55,000-square-foot Cornelia Corbett Center will replace the existing art museum, Director of Contract Administration David Vaughn, A.I.A., says.  The building, designed by San Francisco architect Stanley Saitowitz, is approximately twice the size of the previous structure and will allow for future expansion up to around 90,000 square feet.   

The parking garage and rooftop garden are existing structures on the opposite end of the park from the museum. Work included in the museum/park project is the renovation of the rooftop garden and incorporation of the area into the overall museum/park design, Vaughn explains. Existing rooftop garden conditions were poor and needed structural and drainage repairs in addition to surface level park renovation, he says.

The three-level museum, located in the park and overlooking it, has dramatic views across the river to the historic H.B. Plant Hotel, whose rooftop minarets are a signature skyline element of Tampa’s downtown, Vaughn says. Skanska USA Building Inc. is serving as the general contractor on the overall park and museum project. The museum cost is $27 million, and is expected to be complete in fall 2009.

The Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, designed by the New York landscape architectural firm of Thomas Balsley and Associates, is about 12.5 acres and its project cost is $13.4 million. Project scope includes demolition of existing roadways within the park area and demolition of a parking structure that was a part of the existing museum.

The project also includes site work to reshape the site for the park improvements; a new access to the parking garage that remains – the one with the rooftop garden – rework of utilities to the park and park improvements, including seat terraces overlooking a great lawn for major public events; a promenade leading away from Ashley Street (the east boundary of the park) over to the museum; two major fountains; restrooms; a children’s playground; a dog run; a pavilion with café and parks; offices; and construction of the riverwalk portion that runs through the park.

Also, $1 million will be used repair the 900 linear foot seawall where the park is adjacent to the river, he says.   

This project is expected to help make the riverwalk, which runs through the central business district, more tourist and pedestrian friendly, Vaughn says. The two-mile stretch, when complete, will connect a retail/entertainment complex, aquarium, cruise terminal, history museum (under construction by Hillsborough County – opening January 2009), four parks, convention center, hotels and a performing arts center.

The Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park design includes space for the Glazer Children’s Museum, a privately funded and constructed project expected to break ground in early 2009. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio has described the Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park as the “crown jewel” of the riverwalk, Vaughn says.