Tallahassee Expansion

Plaza Tower


My fellow classmates, I am pleased to inform those of you who aren't quite aware of the wonderful things happening around this area.
I've been in Tallahassee one year. (And what a short year it has been)
Throughout this year, I've seen Tallahassee starting to experience the surge of growth and expansion that the rest of the State has been experiencing for a long time.
I think it might be safe to say that within ten years, we might actually look like a true thriving "Metropolitian Capitol City".
Its about time, thats all I can say.
I will highlight some of the big projects that you will see added to our skyline within the coming year or so.
I'm sure you guys have noticed the almost near completion of two 10 to 15 story condominium buildings downtown recently. "The Tenyson and the brick one near the capitol"
Kinda giving us an urban appeal ehh? Well brace yourself for this. You haven't seen nothing yet!
Number One= I'm sure some of you have seen adverstisements around town advertising concierge style living downtown right? "What is that?" I hear people asking. Well my friends, it is a 23 story Condominium sky rise called Plaza Tower about to take to the sky. The bottom floors will have shopping, restaurants, and tons of other retail. The rest of the highrise will be residential condominiums starting at about 200 thousand all the way up to 800 thousand dollars. to give you an idea of how large this building will be (in Tallahassee standards =), it will stand proportional to the Capitol Building.
(State law mandates nothing can be higher then the Capitol building in Tallahassee because it suggests that the state is inferior??? Don't ask. )

Plaza tower will stand at 23 stories. Yes, the capitol is 22 stories but the lower elevation from which the foundation of this tower will be constructed upon will make it even. This is going to be a beautiful addition to our downtown and help bring back vibrance. A picture is seen above of what it is projected to look like.
I present, Plaza Tower in her early stages.

Secondly= Another project is underway and right where noone is expecting it. Have you noticed the sudden demolishing of a BP gas station, a Napa Autoparts, and Hertz Car rental in town recently? Well, there was and it is on the corner of North Monroe and Tennessee Street.
From this site, you will see the project has already started. The proposed building is another large condominium sky rise roughly around 18 to 20 stories and the developer is Booth Properties. Now before you all get scared at that, please note that I seriously doubt this building will look anything like all the other crap you see Booth build locally. You know, those funky looking apartment complexes standing on two story iron girders with cars parked below. The location will have codes to hopefully prohibit anything as ugly as that going up on Monroe. But the location is brilliant. Its kinda scary imagining such a large building towering over this intersection but kinda cool at the same time. 18 to 20 stories is proposed but I have not been able to get my contacts to verify that yet. Booth has been very quite on their plans. I work at Florida Channel in the Capitol Complex so all these projects will come into our studio at some point.
If you wanna keep informed and up to date on all the expansion from West Capitol Circle all the way to the Georgia border, visit the Tallahassee forums at www.urbanplanet.org and there is a thriving Tally forums thread there.
Now since you are aware of the building going up on the corner of Monroe and Tennessee, I would like to take your attention to the corner directly across from it. This area is the temporary construction site being used to build the Tenyson which is almost near completion. That is a large, vacant, and prime piece of real estate just waiting for concrete to be poured on it.
Right now, there are several proposals on the drawing boards and several very interested developers who will be fighting for rights to build there. It is currently owned by the same people building the Tenyson but they might decide to sell it to another developer. Everything is still in speculation in simple terms. But some of the proposals I have heard for this property are exciting. Some will go as high as 24 stories and maybe higher if they can meet the harsh restrictions given by the City. It is possible to get above the Capitol, you just got to include the right stuff such as residential catering. Anyways, it is going to be big. Rest assured of that.
Just within the last 2 years, Tallahassee will be getting 4, possibly 5 high rises downtown so change is bound to happen. I realize that there is a portion of you out there who don't like to read this but it is going to happen sooner or later. Florida is one of the fastest growing states in the Union and we currently rank 4th in population. So it is only a matter of time.
It would definitely be nice getting off the interstate a few years from now and seeing landmarks that will define our city and show it in it's true glory. Such as having a skyline with lighting that can be seen from a far.
What happened to Tally?
What happened was around the turn of the Millenium, Florida finally decided to leave the fate of Tallahassee's downtown in the hands of the city, not the state, itself. So now since we no longer have a state government dictating to us what we can and cannot do with our downtown, you will be seeing some drastic changes in the coming future. Tally is a great city. It is unfortunate though that a lot of the alumni of FSU, TCC, and Famu cannot stick around after graduation because of a economy which seriously lacks high paying jobs. So they move on to other places. This is starting to change.

Matthew Meadows