{"id":166036,"date":"2026-02-23T20:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166036\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:04:07","slug":"check-in-with-tampa-bay-march-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166036\/","title":{"rendered":"Check In With Tampa Bay: March 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Entertainment District to Break Ground on Water Street in 2027
Strategic Property Partners<\/a> has unveiled plans for a new entertainment district in downtown Tampa that will include a 3,500-seat live music and performance venue, a 250-room hotel, about 100,000 square feet of dining, retail and entertainment space, and 1,000 parking spaces. The developer plans to partner with Vinik Sports Group<\/a> to manage the proposed district, which will be built on a vacant site along Channelside Drive, across from Benchmark International Arena<\/a>, between Morgan and Jefferson streets.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay School Districts Hit Record Graduation Rates
High school graduation rates reached record highs across local school districts during the 2024\u201325 school year. Hillsborough County Public Schools<\/a>, the nation\u2019s seventh-largest district, posted a graduation rate of 90.9%. Pinellas County Schools<\/a> followed at 93.4%, while Pasco County Schools<\/a> led the region at 96.9%, marking the highest rate each district has recorded. Tampa Bay Technical High School<\/a> topped Hillsborough County\u2019s 69 high schools with a 99.1% graduation rate.<\/p>\n

Another Tampa Local Earns Grammy Nomination
Singer-songwriter Destin Conrad<\/a>, a 25-year-old R&B musician who already has two albums to his name, has been nominated for a 2026 Grammy Award for best progressive R&B album for his debut album, \u201cLove on Digital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans Advance for 21-Story Luxury Apartment Tower in St. Petersburg
A $134 million, 21-story luxury apartment tower called The Pelican<\/a> has been approved for downtown St. Petersburg. The 370-unit project will replace seven buildings in the Downtown St. Petersburg National Register Historic District on a 1.3-acre site along Fifth Avenue North. The development will include 3,819 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a 485-space parking garage, with a double-height lobby and residential and retail uses lining the lower levels.<\/p>\n

05. Three Planned Developments Near Armature Works
Three new development plans near Armature Works<\/a> in downtown Tampa have been filed. A seven-story mixed-use building at Palm Avenue and North Boulevard would feature 363 apartments, 75,000+ square feet of commercial space, and 647 parking spots. A 25-story residential tower with 265 apartments and 8,000+ square feet of retail is planned west of the Sprouts<\/a> parking garage, while a six-story, 155-room hotel is proposed east of Sprouts along Tampa Street near the YMCA Central City Development<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Missed last month? Check out January\/February Front Desk<\/a>. Or if you\u2019re looking to advertise, find out more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Entertainment District to Break Ground on Water Street in 2027Strategic Property Partners has unveiled plans for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,13897,79027,79028,23643,137,136,32506],"class_list":["post-166036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-events","tag-tampa-bay-food","tag-tampa-bay-happenings","tag-tampa-bay-news","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-whats-new"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}