Slump stalls Tampa's tallest condo tower

TAMPA — Felix Amon dreamed of building taller than Trump, but now finds himself hammered by the slump.

Poor sales and tighter credit have forced Amon, based in Daytona Beach, to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for his Tampa Tower 2 project.

The 608-foot, 51-story condo skyscraper would have reached higher than any building in the region. Tapered at its top and crowned by an antenna, the $350-million tower would have resembled a stumpier version of the Empire State Building.

Amon bought the downtown lot at Washington and Morgan streets two years ago and had fallen behind in repaying $7.4-million to TransAtlantic Bank. The Miami lender had initiated foreclosure proceedings, and Amon plans to use bankruptcy reorganization to block the bank from seizing the property.

"We'll definitely keep the project and keep moving forward. We just want to freeze the process to protect our asset," the Austrian-born Amon told the St. Petersburg Times Tuesday.

Amon's is the third Tampa condo project to declare bankruptcy this year. The Towers of Channelside and the Place at Channelside filed for Chapter 11 in January and February, respectively. Both were largely completed but were hit hard when buyers bailed from contracts.

Even the best-known local condo project, Trump Tower Tampa, has threatened bankruptcy should its financing efforts fail. The 52-story building, licensing its name from New York tycoon Donald Trump, has yet to get off the ground,

"Just remember what's happened to Trump Tower, and all the other projects," Amon said. "All the buyers ran for the hills."

Amon said the bankruptcy filing doesn't apply to another of his local condo buildings, Clearwater's Station Square. The downtown redevelopment project on Cleveland Street offers 126 units and a rooftop pool. "Station Square is just about finished," he said. "Luckily that was sold before the crisis started."

Comments on this article

by Amy	Mar 28, 2008 1:23 PM
Check tax records...pd almost $9M for property, assessed at $800K?!! Taxes less than $20K/yr and they still haven't been paid since they purchased the land.

by Skyscrapercity	Mar 27, 2008 6:48 PM
When a developer has to pay $4-$9 MILLION per acre for land that needs millions more in prep work before construction is possible, exactly how do you propose that the prices be cheaper? If you don't like DT, that's ok, because plenty o

by voxy	Mar 27, 2008 5:51 PM
skyscraper city you have no one fooled. maria is right. tampa was sold BY losers TO losers. Follow the money. St pete's will fall through in time, as well. IT's more solid but not there.

by Dave	Mar 27, 2008 5:10 PM
Come on folks, Tampa can not support that many $450k+ tiny condo's. Most of the people that work downtown can't afford that. These are nice condos, but the build was fueled by speculators. These were way overpriced for the area. $200 &

by JH Skyscrapercity	Mar 27, 2008 3:21 PM
mm... So, you're expecting to be able to find cheap housing in 2 of the most desirable and expensive neighborhoods in the city? The problem isn't the real estate market, it's your unreasonable expectations that are the problem. Hire a

by Steve	Mar 27, 2008 3:20 PM
Amon states his Station Square is sold...but it isn't finished yet. Doesn't that mean buyers haven't closed yet? If so, won't most of them run?

by Annette	Mar 27, 2008 3:02 PM
Men and their egos!

by Holly	Mar 27, 2008 3:01 PM
Men, and their "dreams of grandeur," you got to love it!

by kitty	Mar 27, 2008 3:00 PM
This is happening all over the country. More supply than demand. Americans losing jobs that didn't afford little-ticket purchases, much less big-ticket. Europeans who, due to our contempt for the rest of the world, would rather not liv

by TC	Mar 27, 2008 2:54 PM
Just what we need, more condo's...they can't sell the ones that are already built! This is crazy!

by John	Mar 27, 2008 2:53 PM
And the Rays really think NOW is a good time to waste $450M on a stadium because some developer MIGHT want to risk building at the Trop site? What are they thinking? The site could be contaminated - that alone will bring them to a screeching hal

by Tom	Mar 27, 2008 2:44 PM
I work in downtown Tampa. I would not live here (until drastic changes) I could go on and on about all the reasons. It's one thing to see Tampa DT lagging St. Pete with its beautiful waterfront, but Tampa DT offer less than Clwtr, its

by DUTCH	Mar 27, 2008 2:11 PM
IF YOU HAVE A DECENT JOB OR ANY MONEY ..LOOK FOR BARGAINS...OR GET OUT OF FLOREEDA...YOU MAY GET STUCK HERE WITH YOUR HAND TO YOUR BUTT! ITS HAPPENED BEFORE...SORRY TO SAY ITS A RATHER TYPICAL EVENT THAT EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE FORSEEN...

by DUTCH	Mar 27, 2008 2:07 PM
EVERYONE ACTS LIKE THIS IS A NEW STORY...IT HAS HAPPENED EVERY FEW YEARS IN TAMPA SINCE THE BUILDING BOOM OF THE 20's...DUH...!! WAKE UP N SMELL THE COFFEE...IT'LL BE A FEW MORE YEARS BEFORE THE ADJUSTMENT IS COMPLETE...IT A CYCLE...LOOK F

by mm	Mar 27, 2008 2:02 PM
There are so many recent college grads who want to move to Hyde Park/SoHo but can't because we're being priced out. If Downtown realized this, we'd move there and not Interbay.

by JH Skyscrapercity	Mar 27, 2008 1:58 PM
Jeff... You should have moved there 5+ years ago, before everyone else also wanted to. DT should be one of the most expensive places to live in town, because it's so desirable, and so expensive to build there. People are sick of commuting!

by Heather	Mar 27, 2008 1:52 PM
I agree with Jeff, if they had something around $150,000 I would jump at it. There are a lot of young singles in the area looking to buy, but we need something more affordable that's not a dump!

by Tino	Mar 27, 2008 9:25 AM
somebody needs to take off their aluminum foil hat -- a developer conspiracy? Please.

by JH Skyscrapercity	Mar 27, 2008 9:22 AM
The TCC bows to NIMBYs like you constantly, to the point of voting down projects, knowing that they would then lose a $$$ lawsuit. Redevelopment DT is raising millions of $$$ in taxes for the city, without raising yours. Learn the facts, then speak.

by Jeff	Mar 27, 2008 9:14 AM
I was thinking about buying a condo downtown, but couldnt quite afford it since the lowest price condo was around $200k. Think of how many people were in the same boat as me.If they would make it more affordable and quit stuffing their pockets.

by Maria	Mar 26, 2008 9:38 AM
When the City Council & the Mayor sold the City to the developers, someone should have put on their thinking caps and foreseen this debacle. Just follow the money - political contributions - and it all becomes so clear.