East Tampa — Tampa, Florida

East Tampa is a broad stretch of the City of Tampa lying north and east of downtown, beyond the I-4 and I-275 interchange. The City of Tampa East Tampa CRA page describes a 7.5 square-mile area situated between Downtown, the Port of Tampa and the University of South Florida, with convenient access to three interstates and Tampa International Airport. The city reports that private investment in East Tampa has been concentrated along Hillsborough Avenue.

The district takes in several older neighborhoods. Tampa Magazines identifies Belmont Heights as an East Tampa neighborhood, and the city's own project lists name streets such as North 22nd Street, East Lake Avenue, East Osborne Avenue and North 19th Street. Interstate 4 forms the southern edge of the oldest part of East Tampa and I-275 its western edge, according to the city's history page, so the two interstates frame the district's oldest blocks.

Public art is part of the CRA record as well. The East Tampa Public Art page catalogs murals and artwork at the Tampa Police Department District III building and a sheet on the St. Benedict Convent, placing those East Tampa works in the same district file as the redevelopment plans. Taken together with the annexation maps and project sheets, the CRA pages form the most detailed public record of how the City of Tampa defines and invests in East Tampa today, district by district and street by street.

East Tampa joined the city in three steps. The East Tampa History page states that the southwestern portion was annexed in 1911, an area roughly bounded by 26th Street on the east, 26th Avenue on the north, I-4 on the south and I-275 on the west. In 1923 the city line moved out to 40th Street on the east and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the north, together with a strip running along 15th Street from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard north to Hillsborough Avenue. The remainder of today's East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area was incorporated in 1953.

The City of Tampa draws a practical conclusion from those dates. Because East Tampa has been part of Tampa for at least 50 years, the history page notes, the infrastructure laid down when its blocks were platted, including potable water, wastewater and the transportation system, is reaching the end of its useful service. That aging of pipes and streets is one of the conditions the CRA was created to address, and it explains why so much East Tampa spending goes to streets, drainage and public land rather than to new buildings alone.

Middleton High School is the institution most closely tied to East Tampa's Black history. Hillsborough County states that it was founded in 1934 as the first public high school for African American students in Tampa, that it closed in 1971 due to desegregation, and that it reopened in 2002. The county article, which marks 90 years of the school, notes that it has survived two fires and is now nationally recognized for its focus on science, technology, engineering and math.

Tampa Magazines, in a 2022 history by Rodney Kite-Powell of the Tampa Bay History Center, gives the original site: Middleton opened in 1935 at 22nd and Chelsea streets in the East Tampa neighborhood of Belmont Heights. The school was named for business, education and civic leader George S. Middleton, and its building was designed by Tampa architect M. Leo Elliott. Until the county school system fully integrated in 1971, the article states, Middleton and Blake High School in West Tampa were the only public high school options for Black students in and around Tampa, and Middleton versus Blake ranked among the county's most contested rivalries.

The same article lists Middleton graduates who went on to public life in Hillsborough County, among them George Edgecomb, described as the first African American judge in the county (class of 1960), and the politicians Gwen Miller (1953), James Hargrett (1961) and Les Miller (1969).

The East Tampa CRA Projects and Programs page lists the district's active work. A $200,000 update of the East Tampa Community Redevelopment Plan will set development, project and programming priorities for the next 5 to 10 years. Housing is the largest theme. The Tampa CRA purchased several properties near the intersection of East Osborne Avenue and North 19th Street for affordable housing, with the investment to be set through a request for proposals, and in September 2023 it bought a former church property on East Curtis Street, budgeting $525,000 toward cleanup and housing for lower-income individuals and families.

Commercial space is the second theme. The CRA is assisting with the Gator Building, built in 1951 at East Lake Avenue and North 22nd Street, which is planned as a business incubator hub, food hall and event plaza for East Tampa residents, with a CRA investment of $1,060,000. A third project would turn a stormwater pond on North 22nd Street into a cooler walking route, adding shade and meandering paths away from the roadway, at a planned $1,500,000.

The ETCRA master planning record on the East Tampa CRA page includes a Master Strategic Plan Report dated July 2022, alongside annual reports and tax increment financing reports for the district.

The City of Tampa describes Memorial Park Cemetery as a historical landmark in East Tampa that opened in 1919, with World War I veterans buried there. The city purchased the cemetery in May 2023, and on June 20, 2024 the Tampa City Council approved funding for improvements to the fence; the East Tampa CRA investment is $500,000, aimed at keeping the grounds clean and secure.

A five-year Parks ADA Program, running from FY23 through FY27, uses East Tampa CRA funds to improve accessibility and inclusive play at Alfred Barnes Jr Park, Borrell Park, Clarence Fort Freedom Trail, Cuscaden Park, Cyrus Greene Park, Giddens Park, Grant Park, Highland Pines Park, the Jackson Heights NFL YET Center, Ragan Park and Williams Park. The city lists $312,129 for FY24.

The largest East Tampa recreation project sits outside the CRA list. The City of Tampa Parks and Recreation Department is combining the Fair Oaks Community Center, Herbert D. Carrington Sr. Community Lake and several recently acquired adjacent properties into a 10.2-acre East Tampa Recreation Complex, adding a new senior center and a full-size gymnasium. Skanska USA Building Inc. was selected in July 2022 to lead the design-build team, public outreach began in February 2023, and the city's schedule targets completion of construction by 2026.