The Tempo opens, brings more affordable apartments to Downtown Tampa

A new note has been added to ENCORE! Tampa, an affordable housing development in downtown Tampa.

The Tempo, a seven-story building featuring 203 units of one, two, three, and four-bedroom apartments, is set to start moving residents in on the first few floors this month as construction on the remainder of the building is completed. 

The Tempo features affordable and market-rate units with an average rent of $874 throughout the building. 

Located at 1102 Ray Charles Boulevard in Tampa, The Tempo is the latest addition to ENCORE! Tampa, a 12-block mixed-use community on the northern edge of downtown that replaced the public housing community Central Park Village. Certified as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) development, ENCORE! Tampa includes nearly 800 units across four buildings, each named to honor Tampa’s historic music past: Ella, Reed, Trio, and Tempo.

“It's an amenity-rich building,” says Leroy Moore, Chief Operating Officer of Tampa Housing Authority, the master developer of the project. “It's downtown and walkable to major job markets and entertainment venues like Ybor City, which is only a 10-minute walk away.” The Tempo is also adjacent to Perry Harvey Senior Park.

“Within the building, you have a pool and clubhouse, where residents can gather and rent out for functions,” Moore adds. “The clubhouse also has music practice rooms. Since some school students play the tuba or saxophone, instead of being in their bedrooms disturbing their family, they can go to the clubhouse, close the door in a little rehearsal room, and just jam away.”

ENCORE! Tampa was built in a partnership between the Tampa Housing Authority and Bank of America. The architect for the project is St Petersburg-based Bessolo. Completion of the project has been contracted to West Palm Beach-based Kast Construction.
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Read more articles by Dyllan Furness.

Dyllan Furness is a freelance writer and born-again Floridian based in Tampa. He covers the Tampa Bay Area’s development boom for 83 Degrees, with an eye out for sustainable and community-driven initiatives.