The Tampa Housing Authority’s redevelopment of public housing sites into modern mixed-use, mixed-income developments continues with the Tempo at ENCORE!
The first residents moved into the seven-story, 203-unit, mixed-income development late last year, after a series of delays due to contractor issues. The Housing Authority will formally mark the completion of the latest piece in the ENCORE Tampa! apartments with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 15.
“We are excited that the TEMPO is open and that folks are being housed,” Tampa Housing Authority spokeswoman Lillian Stringer says. “The dire need for affordable housing in this community remains as we move forward with planning the ribbon cutting and grand opening.”
In the case of Tempo, more than 7,000 families were on the waiting list for the 203 apartments, a key indicator that demand for affordable housing exceeds the supply. Across Hillsborough County, more than 30,000 people are on the waiting list for affordable housing, Stringer says.
Tempo consists of a mix of one- to four-bedroom apartments at both affordable and market-rate rents. Stringer says that mix of subsidized housing and market-rate rents is “intended to avoid creating the pockets of poverty that characterized large housing projects of the 1940s and '50s.”
For residents, amenities include a pool, a 5,000-square-foot clubhouse, a fitness center, a 100-seat capacity theater, music rehearsal rooms, a library, and a business center. The modern design also features a 340-space parking garage at the center of the building,
Located between downtown and Ybor City, ENCORE Tampa! Is a $425 million mixed-use development built through a partnership between the Tampa Housing Authority and the Bank of America Community Development Corporation to redevelop the site where the Central Park Village public housing complex once stood. Prior additions to the project include two senior residences, the Ella and the Reed, and the six-story Trio, which is designed for families with children. Future plans include retail development; the master plan has set aside parcels for a grocery store, a hotel and retail shops.
ENCORE Tampa! is one part of a Tampa Housing Authority effort to raze aging public housing communities and redevelop the sites with modern, mixed-use developments for a range of income levels.
On the west bank of the Hillsborough River, construction crews have razed North Boulevard Homes, the city’s oldest public housing complex, to make way for West River, a 150-acre mixed-use, mixed-income development.
The ribbon cutting for Tempo is scheduled from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. March 15 at 1102 Ray Charles Blvd.
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