Port Tampa Bay says no new fire station in Channelside Parking Garage near Sparkman Wharf
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer and Henry Queen
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Apr 17, 2024

Port Tampa Bay says its Channelside Parking Garage, across the street from Sparkman Wharf, is not available for use as a fire station.

Councilmember Bill Carlson, who has floated the idea of a fire station in the port’s parking garage, raised the issue again at a Tampa City Council meeting on April 11, when plans for Ybor Harbor were approved. Between Ybor Harbor and Gasworx, nearly 9,000 residential units will be added to the northern edge of downtown Tampa in the coming years.

Water Street Tampa developer Strategic Property Partners, which has a land lease on the port-owned Sparkman Wharf, has a management agreement to operate the garage for Port Tampa Bay. Cruise ship passengers, visitors and office tenants at Sparkman Wharf and Water Street use the garage.

A spokesperson for SPP declined comment Wednesday.

Tampa Fire Rescue conducted a study that concluded the Garrison lot was the best spot for a fire station for access to new development in the area. But with development plans in the works for the Garrison lot, Carlson said, the Channelside garage is a natural fit for a fire station.

“Obviously, SPP does not have room for a fire station in their future development plans — especially since that location is adjacent to the water,” Carlson said of the Garrison lot. “The parking garage across the street is the next closest available space. The bottom floor of the garage was built high enough for large trucks and/or retail development.”

But Port Tampa Bay says a “fire station within the port’s limited cruise parking garage would not be the best use of the space.”

“We’d prefer the city look at other undeveloped land within the Channelside and Ybor area to build a fire station,” said Lisa Wolf-Chason, a port spokesperson.

Wolf-Chason said the garage’s high bays were built to accommodate trucks delivering food and goods to the cruise ships that operate at Terminal 2.

“With continued anticipated growth of our cruise business and our current lease agreement with SPP, the parking garage is not available for use as a fire station,” Wolf-Chason said. “Currently, the first floor [of the] garage is being utilized to handle vans, taxis and other vehicles on cruise days to relieve congestion on 12th Street.”

Carlson said the city, port and SPP “need to have a discussion to negotiate whether this is possible.”

“I prefer this space to taking valuable, developable land,” Carlson said. “The underlying problem is that the administration does not want new fire stations. They talk about them and then don’t support them, as evidenced last year when council approved funds for a station that the administration did not build. With all the development in Channel district, we need to find a solution to protect all the new residents there.”

Adam Smith, a spokesperson for Mayor Jane Castor, said the administration does want new fire stations.

“This administration has committed many millions of dollars to building future fire stations and doing so in a thoughtful, data-driven way,” Smith said Wednesday. “I know the mayor appreciates and respects the city council’s commitment to public safety.”