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Riverfront developer plans downtown Tampa water taxi service

By Alan Snel, Times Correspondent
In print: Monday, July 7, 2008

Special to the Times

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Darren Booth will be unveiling a new way of getting around downtown Tampa next year that doesn't involve asphalt, four wheels, traffic lights or pot holes. And don't worry about parking either.

Forget about $4-a-gallon gas. Booth, development manager for a residential-commercial development called the Heights, is looking to have a water taxi based at the Hillsborough River project by fall 2009, possibly as early as next summer.

The $1-billion mixed-used development across the river from Blake High School includes 100 boat slips, which the river ferry can use as its home, Booth said. He envisions the initial ferry would have about 20 or 30 seats and whisk residents from the Heights to downtown spots such as Tampa General Hospital, the St. Pete Times Forum, Channelside, the Tampa Convention Center and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

"Not too many cities have water wrapping 270 degrees around it with a lot of the big venues right on the water," Booth said at his office, which offers a window framing the river and downtown's buildings. "All the vibrancy will be on the river 10 years from now."

The Heights includes 1,900 residential units ranging in price from $200,000 to $2-million and 260,000 square feet of shops, offices and restaurants. The first residential units at the 50-acre waterfront site just north of downtown are slated to be open by next year.

Startup costs for the water taxi service would be about $30,000 — the price of a small boat and the first tank of gas, Booth said. That's a tiny fraction of the millions of dollars spent to add a lane to nearby I-275, which has a bridge spanning the Hillsborough River only a football field away from Booth's office.

A ferry ride would cost about $5, which Booth said would be competitive with downtown parking fees.

Booth said he is open to forging a ferry partnership with the city of Tampa and/or another private water taxi operator.

Tampa council member Linda Saul-Sena, a fan of using water taxis in Boston, said getting such a service would be "a huge asset for Tampa's downtown.''

Booth also contacted Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean this year about supporting the county's efforts to get federal funds for the ferry project.