Florida\u2019s<\/a> land boom in the 1920s.<\/p>\n“It was the Florida land boom, which started in Miami in the early 1920s, but certainly came to Tampa by 1923 or 1924,” Kite-Powell said. “And so, it’s where we get so many neighborhoods that we think of today.”<\/p>\n
The building was significantly altered in the 1970s, when developers removed part of the lower structure and added a more modern stucco exterior that remained in place for decades.<\/p>\n
What they’re saying<\/p>\n
Some longtime residents and development observers say the demolition represents both the loss of historic architecture and the continued transformation of downtown Tampa.<\/p>\n
![\"<div>Courtesy:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/05c349de51edd79164bb2c117d285dd0.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
“My heart weeps for the architecture that we’ve lost in this city,” Garrett Grecco, host of the Tampa Bay Developer Podcast, said.<\/p>\n
Grecco said rising property values in the area suggest luxury residential development is likely coming next.<\/p>\n
In 2021, the property sold for approximately $20 million before being resold in 2024 for roughly $40 million.<\/p>\n
“That tells me the demand for this particular location is very strong,” Grecco said. “With those numbers, you would expect [a] condominium component.”<\/p>\n
Residential surge<\/p>\n
Dig deeper<\/p>\n
Downtown Tampa has experienced a surge in residential development over the past several years, with new luxury towers reshaping the skyline.<\/p>\n
Grecco said the city has shifted from being primarily a business district to a place where more residents now want to live full time.<\/p>\n
“You have this culture shift in the last maybe decade or so where people only would come to downtown to work, and then they would leave,” Grecco said. “Now, people want to live downtown. So, the residential projects downtown have been exploding.”<\/p>\n
Initial concepts from previous ownership groups showed plans for a condominium tower more than 40 stories tall at the site. The project would join other major residential developments in the surrounding area, including the Pendry Hotel and ONE Tampa.<\/p>\n
Future plans unclear<\/p>\n
What we don’t know<\/p>\n
The current owners, Stock Development, have not publicly announced official redevelopment plans for the property.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/98b2a392258e83cd93f5dc29a728c008.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
However, FAA records show the company applied earlier this year for clearance to construct a 540-foot building at the site.<\/p>\n
Company representatives have not immediately responded to requests for comments about the future project.<\/p>\n
The Source<\/p>\n
Information in this story comes from interviews with the Tampa Bay History Center, the Tampa Bay Developer Podcast, property sale records and FAA application filings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Demolition is now underway on the GTE building in downtown Tampa, a structure long known to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[6184,135,25708,137,136,39747,116399],"class_list":["post-276477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-downtown-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-history-center","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tampa-tribune","tag-wallace-stovall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276477","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=276477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"<div>Courtesy:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/420ec7df04ce41afe816cfddeef38bfd.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n