‘A dogged, wonderful persistence’: One developer’s bet on the Channel district is finally paying off

When developer Ken Stoltenberg moved to Tampa in 1998, he saw potential in an area where few others were willing to venture.

As he took what was then the Crosstown Expressway from his home in Palma Ceia to his office in Orlando, he’d always look over at the Channel district, imagining what could go there.

At that time, the district was a mix of vacant lots and empty warehouses, with an adult movie theater on the corner where Publix Super Markets Inc. has proposed a new store.

“It was a blank… …read more