Impacts on Seminole Heights

There are many things going on that are going to have some big effects on Seminole Heights.

East There are many changes coming to East Tampa and what goes on in East Tampa affects Seminole heights. The redevelopment of the old Winn Dixie warehouse property into the Meridian Pointe Apartments. There will be 360 units in that complex, adding a lot of new residents, to a formerly non-residential location. They are going to want to spend money someplace. Consequently I predict that eventually businesses along Hillsborough Avenue are going to improve. Empty places will get filled and existing space will get upgraded. Rents will increase, forcing out marginal businesses.

Another contribution of the 168 unit Grand Oaks Apartments at 2604 E. East Hanna.

People will be earning money at the new location for Fast Lane Clothing Company on 22nd St. just south of Hillsborough and will likely spend it at local businesses. They are building on a formerly empty and trashy lot, being one more building block in changing the look of 22nd Avenue, contributing to the effects Middleton High School has brought..

South South of Martin Luther King Blvd around 22nd Avenue, the continued redevelopment of the former College Hill/Ponce De Leon public housing projects into the Belmont Heights Estate with its newest part, Phase III, will continue to add more people who again will need to spend money. This should positively affect the Martin Luther King and Nebraska Avenues.

The construction of the Tampa Police Department District III headquarters in that same area will reinforce those good effects. Aside from the stronger police presence just south of Seminole Heights, these officers and visitors to the headquarters will again spend money locally.

Of course the biggest future project is the redevelopment of the Central Park Village public housing projects. Another part of Nebraska Avenue cleaned up. More money pumped in. People leaving downtown will be less afraid to drive north on Nebraska Avenue. This will tie in with the restriping of Nebraska from 4 lanes to 2/3 lanes.

One area that is missing on the redevelopment is the Robles Park Village housing project. This puts a bit of a drag that part of the central south boundary.

North The redevelopment of Riverview Terrace Housing Project into the Oaks at Riverview, which just opened up this weekend. According to a Tampa Tribune article by Kathy Steele, this complex just opened up.

The complex, which is privately managed, will feature 174 family rental units and apartments for seniors. There also will be a small commercial district and a community center. Another 96 owner-occupied, single-family houses and town houses are under construction on the site and on lots scattered throughout the neighborhood.

About two-thirds of the houses and town houses will be available at normal market prices to the general public. The remainder will go to buyers qualifying for low-interest loans."

This area was a blight, sucking the life out of the area around it. (And the life of those who lived in it.) I noticed improvements to the area around immediately after it was torn down. Now this new complex should be a life producing area, almost an economic engine to north Seminole Heights. Just watch the rapid improvements as it fills up.