The Encore Project is set to break ground on May 11, 2010, providing
downtown Tampa with an innovative mix of housing, business, retail and
public art. And it's putting people throughout the Tampa Bay region to
work.
"We have a long-term relationship in the
state of Florida with taking economically challenged areas and making
them beautiful," says Richard Zahn, CEO of ZMG Construction,
construction manager for the project. "But the most exciting part about
this project for me is that not only are we changing the skyline of
downtown Tampa, but we're putting so many people throughout the Tampa
Bay area to work while doing it."
Once
completed, the
Encore project will become a
mixed-use district housing more than 1,700 people across a wide economic
spectrum as well as offices, ground-floor retail, a hotel, a grocery
store, a middle school, a park and an African-American history museum.
The project's green initiative ensures that all buildings are
LEED
certified, with the added benefits of decreasing storm water runoff
and high temperatures associated with dense urban populations during the
summer months.
The $425 million project began
in earnest in March 2010, with a job fair for construction professionals
to work on the project, The entire project is estimated to be completed
between 2017 and 2019. The project will create an estimated 4,000
construction jobs and 1,000 permanent jobs.
The
12 blocks between
downtown Tampa and
Ybor City is rich in
cultural history, its
Central Avenue once
home to clubs where such legends as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie
Holiday, Cab Calloway and James Brown played. Ray Charles lived and
recorded a hit song there. The city decided in recent years to
revitalize the community and bring it back to its original status as a
thriving business and cultural district.
Writer:
Missy
Kavanaugh Source: Richard Zahn, ZMG Construction