Page 30 - Florida Sentinel 3-19-21

Local
City Selects Developer To Transform Rome Yard Site; Generates $4.5B In Economic Growth Over One-Year Period
MAYOR JANE CASTOR
The City of Tampa has con- cluded its extensive process to identify a developer to lead transformative and inclusive de- velopment in the West Tampa community.
During a news conference on March 17, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and her administration announced Related Urban De- velopment Group, in partner- ship with the Tampa Housing Authority, would develop the Rome Yard multi-use project. The project is one of the admin- istration’s critical economic drivers and will add more than 600 mixed-income housing units in West Tampa to align with the City’s strategic housing affordability goals. It will also drive opportunities for place- making, retail services and com- munity investment that complements the surrounding community, while accounting for transportation and sustain- ability goals.
“When I committed to T3 goals to advance the City’s af- fordable housing options and drive economic opportunity across all our neighborhoods, we could never have known that a global pandemic was lying ahead of us,” said Mayor Cas- tor. “But this administration does not let obstacles get in our way. Despite the unique circum- stances of 2020, our Develop- ment Services team adapted to enable vital construction proj- ects to continue. And our Eco- nomic Development team completed the bid process for Rome Yard, a project that will transform West Tampa for gen- erations to come.”
A committee comprised of City staff, housing and building ex- perts, and the West Tampa Citi- zen Advisory Committee (CAC) chair selected the Related Group, after interviewing the top three Request for Proposal
TAMPA HOUSING TEAM Those who attended the press conference for the announcement Wednesday ...Worked on Rome Yard project with the City were: Donald Odom, Ernest Coney, Jr., Tarnisha Cliatt, Peter Van Warner, Joseph Robinson, Kyle Knopf, Alex Castor, Mercedes Young, Allen Greene, Sr., Linda
(RFP) candidates on March 12. The Miami-based real estate de- velopment company collabo- rated with the Tampa Housing Authority and a wide range of local diverse talent on the RFP. The committee selected InVictus Development, LLC, as the run- ner up for the project.
The Related team’s commit- ment to exceeding the affordable housing and workforce diversity goals established for the project emerged as a critical advantage for the developer. Their proposal included a range of income- qualifying levels in addition to market rate and ‘for-sale’ op- tions as well. Related also ear- marked a minimum of 40% of the project budget estimated at $75 million for minority and woman-owned local businesses.
The Rome Yard development project represents an opportu- nity to bring additional residen- tial development to West Tampa, while providing work- force and apprenticeship oppor- tunities. The plan also includes dozens of community-centric features including a Cultural Center and Art Pavilion high- lighting the rich history of West Tampa and a Workforce Train- ing Center focused on providing community services such as free resume building, budget man- agement and interview training classes.
The site is located on 18-acres of City-owned property immedi- ately west of the Hillsborough River, east of Rome Avenue, south of Columbus Drive and north of Spruce Street in the West Tampa Community Rede- velopment Area (CRA).
This recent announcement comes as the Castor administra- tion discloses its fiscal year 2020 permitting numbers, which is valued at $4.5 billion in devel- opment during the pandemic — $1.4 billion more than FY2019
before the global health crisis struck.
“The past year has been a chal- lenge in many ways, however it also presented opportunities to
accelerate many ideas we had to make it easier to do business with the City,” said City of Tampa Administrator for Devel- opment and Economic Opportu-
nity, Carole Post.
To learn more about the Rome
Yard RFP and to see the propos- als, visit www.tampa.gov/DEO/RFPs.
Porter, Ernie DuBose, II, and Allen Greene, II.
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