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Central Park draws big names

Some nationally and locally recognized developers have applied to rebuild the rundown neighborhood.

By JANET ZINK
Published May 18, 2005

TAMPA - Henry Cisneros, Kiran Patel, Bill Bishop and Don Wallace.

Those are some of the nationally and locally recognized names that appear on applications from developers who hope to get the job of rebuilding the Tampa Housing Authority's rundown Central Park Village.

Cisneros served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton. In 2000, Cisneros created American City Vista, a real estate firm that specializes in large-scale urban redevelopment. American City Vista is listed as the primary partner of Chicago's Kimball Hill Urban Centers, one of the six contenders in the Central Park bid.

Kimball Hill also is partnering with New Vision for Tampa, a local company established to work on the Central Park project.

New Vision's chief executive is Fassil Gabremariam, a former GTE executive who served as a commissioner for the Tampa Port Authority.

Kimball Hill is redeveloping a portion of Cabrini Green, an infamously failed public housing project in Chicago.

The team led by Bishop and Wallace, called A Better Place Group, played up its historical connection to Central Park in an application.

Bishop and Wallace were key players in Civitas, the for-profit developer that in 2003 made a failed attempt to build a 157-acre master planned community in place of the complex.

The team is "not starting from scratch in thinking about how to approach this," the application states.

It emphasizes that the organization's principals own land around Central Park and are contract purchasers on the 20-acre Tampa Park Apartments east of Central Park, stating, "This allows us to bring a great deal to the table in terms of being able to execute a larger vision."

The Bank of America Community Development Corporation is partnering with A Better Place.

Creative Choice Homes, based in Palm Beach Gardens, lists Patel as its finance partner. Patel gave $5-million to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's new arts school in 2002.

Creative Choice has built public housing complexes throughout Florida, including St. Petersburg. The company is partnering with Reliable Group architects, which provided design services for the Tampa Housing Authority's 2004 HOPE VI grant application.

The Housing Authority didn't get the grant, but the design work done by Reliable received the highest marks possible from HUD.

Other applicants include Flaherty and Collins, which redeveloped public housing in Muncie, Ind., and Michaels Development, the New Jersey company that is building Belmont Heights Estates in place of Tampa's College Hill project.

The final competitor is McCormack Baron Salazar, who in 1996 piloted HUD's first mixed-income public housing complex in St. Louis, Mo.

The Housing Authority has required that proposals include homes that will appeal to a mix of income levels, including public housing users.

The 28-acre Central Park is strategically located between Ybor City and the north end of downtown Tampa, which is in the midst of a residential and commercial redevelopment boom.

City leaders want to see Central Park redeveloped to blend into the surrounding neighborhood.

A committee made up of representatives from the city, county and Housing Authority will decide next week which of the applicants will be asked to prepare a detailed proposal for the property.

[Last modified May 18, 2005, 00:49:11]