Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
District renewal is going fast
Investors have poured as much as $57-million into redeveloping east Tampa only a year after the City Council called it blighted.
By KEVIN GRAHAM
Published July 22, 2005
TAMPA - A year ago, the City Council declared east Tampa a blighted district in desperate need of urban and economic redevelopment.
Developers apparently got the message.
Private investors have pumped as much as $57-million into the 7-square-mile area, north of Interstate 4 and east of Interstate 275, in fiscal year 2005, the city's Department of Urban Development told council members Thursday.
Ed Johnson, an urban development manager and member of the East Tampa Partnership, said the community redevelopment area is the second largest project of its kind in the state.
He said the city plans to soon begin improvements along Nebraska Avenue, adding bus and bicycle lanes from Hillsborough Avenue to Kennedy Boulevard. Fast Lane Clothing, a company that manufactures sportswear, is leaving its Drew Park facility to relocate on N 22nd Street, bringing more jobs to east Tampa. And the Carver Exceptional School is making a new home in east Tampa, on Comanche Avenue, leaving West Tampa.
Johnson also took note of the 360-unit Meridian Point Apartments under construction on Hillsborough Avenue. The Mount Calvary Seventh-Day Adventist Church, being built at 40th Street and Osborne Avenue, will be an "educational center" for the neighborhood, he said.
Phase III of Belmont Heights Estates is under construction, as are several other apartment complexes. Road, electrical and sewer improvements are slated for the area.
Council member Kevin White, who represents east Tampa, said residents are always stopping him to ask what's going on with redevelopment efforts.
"This breaks it down," he said of Thursday's presentation.
Even before taking office, Mayor Pam Iorio pushed for redevelopment in east Tampa.
On Aug. 9, at 6:30 p.m., she will deliver a state of east Tampa address at St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church, 3716 E Lake Ave.
Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com
[Last modified July 22, 2005, 00:32:15]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
