Have you seen the cylindrical brown building by the Tampa Riverwalk? Of course you have.
The Rivergate Tower is unmistakable — both due to its unique design and central location within downtown Tampa. To help better understand how the structure came to be, we’re enlisting the help of the viral, oft-remixed “song of the summer.”
I’m looking for a tower in finance
This tower is certainly in finance. Since its doors opened in 1988, the Rivergate Tower has provided local business professionals with ideally-located office space. The structure was initially built to serve as the headquarters for the now-defunct North Carolina National Bank (NCNB).
Its business roots are also visible through the lettering atop the tower — Sykes, the Tampa-based outsourcing + consulting company which serves as the building’s principal tenant. That’s why you may also hear it called the Sykes Building.
Trust fund
Someone’s got money. The Rivergate Tower cost $150 million to build between 1986 and 1988, but was later sold for just $22 million in a foreclosure sale in 2012. Its new owners immediately invested $3 million into restoration efforts, before a more extensive $11 million renovation project took place in 2016-2017.
The only office building located directly along Tampa’s Riverwalk.
Photo by TBAYtoday
6'5"
If you like your towers tall, how’s 454 ft? The 31-story high rise boasts ~520,000 sqft of interior space.
The Rivergate is the seventh-tallest building in Tampa, and “one of the tallest limestone structures in the world,” according to Tour Tampa Bay Architecture.
Blue eyes
Alas, no blue eyes. But the tower does have a unique relationship with color. Thanks to its facade of French and Texas limestone, the building shines yellow-orange when hit by the sun — often most pronounced later in the day. Just look at the two photos included in this article.
Designed by architect Harry Wolf, this effect — coupled with the cylindrical design — was meant to symbolize a lighthouse.
