Real estate rebirth

Leroy Moore and the Tampa Housing Authority have teamed up with Bank of America to transform a former public housing project into a thriving 28-acre commercial and residential area.

Leroy Moore is hoping the third time is the charm.

Moore heads the team working on the 28-acre mixed-use development called Encore: the eastern portion of downtown Tampa seen as the gateway to Ybor City and the Channel District.

Encore was once the Central Park Village public housing area, but today it is a vacant stretch of land with one building, an old abandoned Episcopal Church, sitting between downtown Tampa and Ybor City, on Cass Street and
Nebraska Avenue. Running along the Amtrak station and its tracks, it is the area's largest urban redevelopment project.

Moore, senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Tampa Housing Authority, was there when the former public housing site was seen as the location for the athletes' village for Florida 2012, Tampa's failed Olympic bid.

Then, it was the site for Civitas, a mixed-use development based on the sale of public bonds, which the Florida Supreme Court blocked in 2007. That was later reversed in 2008, but the economy discouraged people from buying the Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, bonds.

Today, renamed Encore, it may be in the best position ever to get off the ground. The project plan calls for 784 apartments, a supermarket, a hotel, an office building and other rental units, such as town homes or condominiums.

“The project has had several cycles of birth,” Moore says.

The Authority has the land all cleared, rezoned, has signed a development partnership with Bank of America, has the support of Gov. Charlie Crist and Mayor Pam Iorio and has applied for and has a good chance to get $38 million in federal stimulus funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which it will use mainly for infrastructure development.

The Authority owns the land for Encore, which has been divided into 12 pads. It will sell each one to a developer who will build a store, a hotel or apartments. It has already had talks with companies interested in building.

It is seen as an economic boost and job creator for the historically African-American and Hispanic community.

“We have a lot of work to do, but we've actually moved farther ahead then the earlier efforts on the project,” Moore says.

Relocating residents

The second was building political and business support. The Authority owns the land, but it will share in the land sale proceeds with Bank of America.

The governor and mayor reviewed the plans and the site and gave their approval for Encore.