Affordable housing initiatives take center stage in Tampa
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Nov 12, 2021

In the view of Jon Paul "JP" Perez, the West River redevelopment project shows there's "almost unlimited demand for attainable housing" in Tampa.

Perez, president of Miami-based Related Group, has a front-row seat to that dynamic. Related Urban Development Group has partnered with Tampa Housing Authority on the $350 million West River redevelopment project, which spans 200 acres north of Interstate 275, south of Columbus Drive and west from Hillsborough River to Rome Avenue. At completion, it will include 1,636 mixed-income residential units and more than 177,000 square feet of commercial space.

The first 360 units in the West River project are almost entirely leased up — Related, THA and city of Tampa officials celebrated the opening of The Boulevards at West River in late September, and there are more than 7,000 families on THA's waitlist.

The demand for affordable housing at all levels is exploding throughout Tampa Bay, which is seeing an influx of new residents following the Covid-19 pandemic. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor recently announced that 6,000 affordable units are under construction or in the pipeline. (Her goal, announced when she took office in 2019, is to have 10,000 units open, under construction or in the pipeline by 2027.)

The city's focus on affordable housing is creating opportunities for real estate developers. LEMA Construction of St. Petersburg struck a first-of-its-kind deal with the Castor administration by utilizing the city’s Bonus Density Affordable Housing Incentive Program. Under city code, LEMA Construction’s plans for an apartment complex at South 56th and East Washington streets would have been limited to 199 units.

But the density program allowed LEMA to build 232 units, 24 of which will be income-restricted.

The city has also kicked off the second phase of its infill housing program: It awarded vacant lots in parts of Ybor City, East Tampa and Sulphur Springs at no cost to 11 local, minority-owned homebuilders.

The program LEMA utilized has existed for years. But LEMA is the first to take advantage of the program, Carole Post, the mayor's economic development chief, told the Business Journal.

Post said Abbye Feeley, director of the city’s development and growth management department, identified the LEMA project as a candidate for the program and “sought them out and explained what their options are,” Post said, “and of course they had the prerogative to just decline.”

Feeley doesn't typically do that type of outreach, Post said, but this particular site stood out as an opportunity.

"It was a one-off," Post said, "but seeing what transpired, we’ve talked about the idea that we should make this more [commonplace within] the system."