Downtown Tampa's skyline just got a new marker: the ONE Tampa condo tower officially topped out at its full 42-story height this week, with developer Kolter Urban reporting that nearly 70% of its 225 residences are already sold. Buyer closings on those units are expected to begin in the third quarter of 2027, as the project moves toward final completion.
The milestone was announced in a City of Tampa Facebook post calling ONE Tampa the newest addition to Tampa's skyline. According to the Tampa Bay Business and Wealth, the tower was originally envisioned as a 55-story, 630-foot building, but Kolter Urban shortened it to 42 stories to sidestep delays tied to height and crane restrictions imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority.
Kolter Urban executive Steve Barber said the majority of condo buyers at ONE Tampa are existing Tampa Bay area residents, a detail the outlet frames as evidence of strong local appetite for high-end downtown homeownership in a market long dominated by rental apartments. That local buying pattern stands out in a downtown core historically built around office towers rather than owner-occupied housing.
A Site With a Contentious Past
The tower occupies an entire city block at 507 N. Ashley Drive, bounded by Twiggs, Tampa, and Madison streets, directly facing Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and sitting steps from the Tampa Riverwalk and Tampa Museum of Art, the same outlet reports. That prime footprint wasn't always uncontested. As FOX 13 News reported, the project sparked a fight over the planned demolition of the 1921 Tarr Furniture Building, designed by noted Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott, whose other work includes the city's Old City Hall and the Centro Asturiano building.
That controversy ended in a September 2022 city compromise permitting the demolition, provided the lower levels of ONE Tampa incorporate historic architectural façade elements from the original structure. It's a trade-off that has become familiar in downtown Tampa, where other aging buildings have recently given way to new towers, including the Wallace Stovall Tower demolition earlier this year.
What's Inside the Region's Tallest Residential Tower
Designed by Adache Group Architects, with interior amenity concepts by ID & Design International, the project has been built by general contractor Moss Construction, which deployed upwards of 400 workers daily during vertical construction, per Kolter Urban. Residences range from roughly 1,200-square-foot one-bedroom layouts up to 4,000-square-foot penthouses on the upper floors, with prices starting around $1.2 million and extending past $4.6 million, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The building includes a multi-floor resident amenity deck starting on the 11th floor, with a resort pool, golf simulator, private theater, and wellness center, along with 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space, according to Traded. Once complete, ONE Tampa will be the tallest residential building in the Tampa Bay region, though the city's overall tallest structure remains the 42-story, 579-foot 100 North Tampa office tower completed in 1992, the Tampa Bay Times notes.
A Multi-Year Build Nears Its Final Stretch
Construction broke ground in mid-2024, a milestone Hoodline covered at the time alongside early sales momentum and comments from Mayor Castor on housing density. The project surpassed its structural midpoint in early 2026, topped out this week, and remains on track for final delivery in 2027, per Kolter Urban.
ONE Tampa's steady progress has drawn contrast with other downtown projects that haven't fared as smoothly. Hoodline previously reported that the nearby X apartment tower has sat half-built under a foreclosure cloud, even as ONE Tampa's construction continued apace. The tower also arrives amid a broader wave of downtown high-rise activity, including Related Group's proposed 24-story Riverwalk District tower announced earlier this summer.
