Water Street Tampa Is First to Achieve WELL Gold Community Certification

How can a neighborhood be designed to support the well-being of its residents? That’s the concept behind the WELL Community standard, a relatively new certification for neighborhoods that demonstrate a commitment to health and wellness. The first community in North America to achieve the standard at the Gold level is Water Street Tampa, a 56-acre development in Tampa, FL, that features 1,200 residential units as well as office, retail, and hotel spaces.

The largest of the residential buildings is KPF’s Heron, a pair of LEED Gold–certified towers that opened in 2021. In keeping with the wellness-oriented development of which they are a focal point, the towers include a variety of features to help residents lead healthy lives and are located at the entrance to the city’s famed Riverwalk.

According to a statement from the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the awarding body, “the certification celebrates Water Street Tampa’s successful, strategic integration of design and policy decisions that promote health and well-being across all aspects of the neighborhood. Leading to this certification, Water Street Tampa was the first neighborhood in the world to pilot the WELL Community Standard in 2017.” Wellness features of the development include double-wide sidewalks to encourage walkability, abundant native landscaping, fitness and recreation programming, as well as measures to monitor neighborhood air quality and reduce both noise and light pollution. Water Street Tampa was recently honored by the Urban Land Institute Americas with an Award for Excellence.

Read the full story from Multifamily Dive here. See the full press release from the International WELL Building Institute here.