One of downtown Tampa’s most familiar old faces is coming down. Crews have started demolishing the Wallace Stovall building at 601 N. Ashley Drive, the roughly century-old tower long tied to the Tampa Tribune and, in more recent decades, known around town as the GTE building. Heavy equipment rolled onto the site last week, and workers are now peeling back floors and finishes, revealing structural bones that go back to the 1920s. The property is owned by Stock Development, which has not yet posted any formal redevelopment plans.
According to local reporting, demolition crews began their work last week, and historians trace the building’s origins to Tampa’s roaring 1920s land boom. Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center told reporters the structure was originally owned by Tribune publisher Wallace Stovall, then dramatically reworked in the 1970s when a modern stucco shell was wrapped around much of the original brick. That big makeover undercut the case for local landmark protections and helped clear a legal path for the current teardown, as reported by FOX 13.
What developers have filed
Stock Development, which picked up the parcel after previous owners floated a high-rise concept, still has paperwork in place that keeps a tall tower on the table. Federal Aviation Administration records reissued in January confirm a 540-foot height envelope was reaffirmed after a change in project sponsorship, a procedural move that preserves earlier air-safety approvals. Coverage of permitting and property records also notes the lot later sold for roughly $40 million after an earlier 2021 purchase in the neighborhood of $20 million, according to Florida YIMBY.
Local reactions
Around town, reaction has been split between nostalgia and spreadsheets. Preservation-minded locals are lamenting the loss of another piece of old Tampa, while market-watchers point to white-hot demand for downtown living. "My heart weeps for the architecture that we've lost in this city," said Garrett Grecco, host of the Tampa Bay Developer Podcast, who also noted that the jump from a roughly $20 million purchase to a roughly $40 million sale signals a strong market for high-end housing downtown. His comments and the broader framing of downtown’s residential pivot were covered by FOX 13.
What to expect next
For now, no public renderings have surfaced, so the demolition mostly serves to clear the site and reset the regulatory slate for whatever comes next. Any actual proposal will still have to make it through city permitting and potential design or preservation reviews. The property has been on developers’ radar since at least 2021, when earlier demolition applications and a 43-story concept were filed under prior ownership. For background on those earlier plans and the building’s long history, see reporting by TampaSphere and Creative Loafing Tampa.
