![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/17aaa3f5ca94209ca616ef5722ef282d.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nThe spinning attractions puncture the skylines of major cities around the world.<\/p>\n
London, Singapore and Dubai all have them. Now, a Tampa developer wants in.<\/p>\n
Tampa City Council members on Thursdayvoted in support of the Tampa Wheel Over Water, a proposed $20 million, 250-foot observation wheel in the Channel District. The pitch comes from local developer Tony Miller, who said the wheel will create jobs and boost tourism.<\/p>\n
But residents raised questions about the wheel, which would tower above The Florida Aquarium and Port Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
The attraction \u2014 called an \u201cobservation wheel\u201d rather than a \u201cFerris wheel\u201d because of its scale and permanence\u2014wouldstand on a half-acre slice of parking lot owned by the city and leased to the aquarium.<\/p>\n
Council members on Thursday voted to allow the aquarium to sublease land for the wheel through 2039. Council members also approved a development agreement with Tampa Wheel Over Water, which governs the design of the project \u2014 things like height and lighting. Council members Lynn Hurtak and Bill Carlson voted against both items.<\/p>\n
No city dollars will be spent on the wheel, said Abbye Feeley, the city\u2019s development and economic opportunity administrator.<\/p>\n
The construction, operation and maintenance of the project will be entirely privately funded. Tampa Wheel Over Water will pay the city $75,000 or a percentage of annual revenues each year \u2014 whichever is greater, Feeley said.<\/p>\n
The proposed wheel will have 27 climate-controlled gondolas, with rides lasting 20 to 30 minutes, according to a presentation to the City Council earlier this month. Tickets for adults will cost $20; for kids, $15.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some residents voiced support for the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Wheel Over Water is another opportunity for us to accept private investment, without tax dollars, to create an icon,\u201d resident Geoff Guidera told council members in early October. \u201cTo create something to do, to give people a reason to come back, to share a photo that says, \u2018Tampa is worth visiting.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But where Guidera saw promise, others had reservations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a new, novel, clever idea,\u201d resident Tarah Bluma said earlier this month. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not much of a job creator \u2014 I mean, I don\u2019t know how many teenagers it takes to operate a Ferris wheel. A few?”<\/p>\n
Alison Hewitt, an East Tampa resident, said on Thursday that the city should have issued a request for proposals before considering the sublease agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am completely offended that something like the wheel gets moved and fast-tracked,\u201d Hewitt said.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Poynor, a South Tampa resident, said the developer did not get enough input from neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it hard to believe that these folks have met with the public repeatedly, when all I have seen on social media is negative,\u201d Poynor said. \u201cNot just negative \u2014 but nasty negative.”<\/p>\n
Miller said his team has worked to communicate with residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I respect the voice of those that are not for it \u2014 and they\u2019re vocal \u2014 it does not reflect the majority,” Miller told council members.<\/p>\n
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said she has remained neutral.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like Switzerland on this,\u201d Castor told the Tampa Bay Times on Tuesday. \u201cIt\u2019d be nice to be able to go up and see the whole city, day or night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council members had questions about noise and light pollution, traffic and hurricanes. Hurtak asked earlier this month about the condition of the wheel \u2014 the developer is under contract to buy an existing observation wheel from Munich, Germany, instead of building a new structure.<\/p>\n
Miller said the observation wheel will be \u201cwhisper quiet\u201d and that there\u2019s a hurricane plan in place. He said purchasing the wheel from Munich will be cheaper and take less time to install than building something new.<\/p>\n
The wheel is expected to open late next year, Miller said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The spinning attractions puncture the skylines of major cities around the world. London, Singapore and Dubai all have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[14709,2153,14711,135,610,137,14824,136,14823,14715],"class_list":["post-17753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-channel-district","tag-council-members","tag-observation-wheel","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-city-council","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-mayor-jane-castor","tag-tampa-news","tag-tampa-wheel-over-water","tag-tony-miller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17753","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=17753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}