By Terry Ward
Of the many contemporary architectural projects recently built and still in the pipeline for Water Street Tampa, one building stands apart for its particularly eye-catching facade.
If you’ve noticed your gaze on the downtown Tampa skyline always lingers a little longer on the two residential towers that make up Heron, it has everything to do with the address’s elemental design.
A brilliant interplay of open and solid spaces rendered non-repetitively is what naturally draws the eye to these sibling LEED Gold Certified residential towers situated within a stone’s throw of the Tampa Riverwalk at the heart of Water Street Tampa, where 420 units welcome residents with enviable lifestyle amenities.
“The goal was to make sure the building felt like it was more inspired by nature than anything else,” says the project’s Design Principal, Trent Tesch, of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), a New York City architectural firm known for celebrated global projects that include the AIA National award-winning One Jackson Square in New York City’s Greenwich Village (of which Tesch said several elements served to inform Heron’s design).
“We aimed to create a piece of architecture that doesn’t repeat incessantly and doesn’t feel monotonous, so you’re able to interpret what you want in that architecture,” he says of Heron, which the firm worked on for Strategic Property Partners (SPP), who developed the neighborhood.
When the KPF team first arrived in Tampa to research the project in 2016, says Tesch, Water Street Tampa was in its infancy-—then little more than a parking lot in the process of being created from the ground up.
“We spent a lot of time early on in the project thinking of designing the building from the inside out and trying to find a form that would generate the best views and solar orientation,” he says.
Creating an indoor-outdoor connection was very important in the design process, so the architects turned to Tampa’s natural habitats on both land and water for inspiration.
“That gave us the idea for the form of the building and the partitions that divide the units, and that playful nature of it,” Tesch says. “We wanted Heron to feel like it was an organic piece of architecture.”
The building, wrought mostly from concrete and glass, has three exterior edges lined with buzzing restaurants, an organic grocer with a craft beer and wine bar and a tree column feature that forms part of a “porous plaza” on the eastern tower’s north side. The effect allows views to flow through to the water while also serving as a visual break for the eye, says Tesch.
“The relief in the buildings’ exterior edges makes for a far more interesting, abstract and playful composition than is the norm in most residential buildings,” he says.
It’s all part of a greater interplay designed to make the people living in the district and within the Heron itself connect to the dynamism and character of the street life and neighborhood.
For Heron resident Sydney Barker, 27, a project manager who moved to Tampa from Virginia and has lived in Heron’s west tower since the summer of 2022, working remotely and playing locally, it’s a lifestyle goal realized.
Residing in the building and district gives Barker what she calls an “instant serotonin boost” every time she walks outside, she says.
Her residence’s balcony (every apartment in Heron has one) was a major selling point when it came to deciding where she wanted to live in Tampa, says Barker. And Tampa’s beautiful weather for most of the year allows her to take full advantage of it.
“We have lots of plants out there, a hammock, a couch. It feels like an extension of the living room,” she says. “My dog loves to go out there and lay in the sun.”
That’s precisely how the architects envisioned Heron’s appeal playing out for the people who call it home, says Tesch.
“The shaping and angled balconies we crafted formed a language on the vertical elements of the towers,” he says. “When you approach the terrace from the inside of your unit, it feels like an organic and non-repetitive surface.” Heron’s concrete exterior was made using board forms cast against cedar planks to give an impression of graining and an organic characteristic that further serves to connect the indoors and out.
The buildings’ communal spaces woo, too, from a state-of-the-art fitness studio and landscaped roof garden to rooftop pools in both towers that arguably have downtown’s most coveted residential views—taking in Harbour Island, Davis Island, the shipping channel, the Tampa Riverwalk and the sweeping stretch of Bayshore Boulevard extending to the south.
Within the residences’ interiors, luxury is in the minimalist details that take a nod from Japanese and Scandinavian styling and include marbled quartz kitchens with induction cooktops and steel Fisher & Paykel appliances.
Floor-to-ceiling windows maximize natural light, with the balconies angled to provide shade from the harsh sunlight while also allowing for an ambient quality of light that hits the residences’ terraces and “bounces into the apartment to make it feel light and airy,” Tesch explains.
Among the many sustainability-focused processes and strategies that led to Heron’s LEED Gold certification are perks for residents that include 22 onsite electric vehicle charging stations and native and adaptive plantings that serve to green up the buildings’ cumulative 80,000 square feet of open space, including a green roof covering the parking structure.
As for the building’s name, bestowed upon it by Strategic Property Partners, Heron references the beautiful and iconic Florida shorebird observed throughout the state—including all over the Tampa Bay area, where herons are known for making frequent appearances flying across the sky or elegantly patrolling the water’s edge.
The building plays a key role in Water Street Tampa’s transformation of downtown Tampa as North America’s first-ever WELL Certified™ community and a vibrant destination home to thousands of people living, working, and enjoying the unique and healthy lifestyle.
“Our residential buildings, like Heron, place residents directly in the mix of the bustling neighborhood and events…reinforcing a strong sense of community and showcasing Water Street Tampa’s immense benefits to the city and Tampa region,” says Josh Taube, CEO of SPP, referring to events like Taste of Water Street (read “All in Good Taste,” page 62) and The Market at Water Street Tampa among recent gatherings steeped in community spirit.
For Tesch and his firm, Heron is a project fully realized in the most rewarding way.
“The most thrilling thing you can do as an architect is foster that sense of community and social engagement. That’s really important,” he says. “I think Heron does that in a really healthy way.”