When I moved to Tampa a couple years ago, the first problem I had with working downtown was that if you didn't eat lunch by 3pm then you had only 2-3 resturants to choose from. And after around 8pm or so, the nearest food is a 10-15 minute drive away. At night, it is not safe to walk around anywhere downtown. Many streets aren't all that well lit, and homeless people (and sometimes drunk people as well) can easily be seen within plain view a block away from Tampa Police headquarters. I can also understand the appearance of an awkward layout and navigation of downtown streets. For one, I hate the Tampa st./Ashley drive split, since there are no traffic control devices to protect the two lanes that merge into Tampa st. And driving through the Tampa to Franklin intersection on your way to Harbour Island is not really intuitive since it looks less like the route to Harbour Island and more like the entrance to the Convention center. (Driving under the Crosstown bridges makes things appear confusing...) If you miss that turn, then the only alternative is to cross over two bridges (a U-turn over the river) and drive around (and back under) the convention center. Also, I have constantly watched drivers cross into the wrong lane when travelling from Scott street through to the I-4 / I-275 onramps. (The fact that they took out a lane from Scott St. for the Ashley onramp doesn't help things either.) And speaking of bad intersections, I have never understood what happened with the design of the Cass/Orange/Pierce/Jefferson/Central/Tyler intersection...
As far as the condo market goes... I have always wondered what end-buyers could afford (and would be willing to pay) such prices for what appear to be glorified apartments (many of them start off at less than 1000 sq.ft.), and where do these people work. I know that a large number of people that buy those condos do so with the expectation that they will sell it at a major profit a couple years later. It is sad to see that culminate in a brand new condo tower with only about 20% actual occupancy. I know that the market can't indefinitely support $200k-$400k condos all up and down Channelside, in addition to all of the $200k-$400k+ new homes going up all over the bay area. I would assume that eventually it will get to the point where people will not want to pay the huge prices, and investors will have to start selling at a loss, or these investors will actually have to live in their condos (instead of renting them out or just holding on to them).
