TAMPA, Fla. — Barbara Van Airsdale doesn’t like her current apartment.
“It’s very dangerous. It’s very small. It’s very expensive,” she said.
When she moved to Tampa in 2021, however, it was all she could find and afford.
“We are being pushed out by people who can pay a lot more than we can,” she said.
That’s why she’s very interested in what’s planned for an 18-acre site in West Tampa that's currently owned by the city.
Developer Related Group is moving forward with plans to develop the two parcels, which are just west of the Hillsborough River along Rome Avenue.
The project, called Rome Yard, will create space for shops, restaurants, art, recreation, and public gatherings.
“A great lawn for yoga on the park, food trucks, a musical amphitheater,” said senior development manager Peter Van Warner during a Tuesday night community celebration about the development.
According to Van Warner, Rome Yard will also include 1,200 apartments, and some of them will be affordable.
RELATED: West Tampa housing project expected to begin in about 6 months
“Right now, it’s roughly a third, a third, a third,” Van Warner explained. “A third affordable, third workforce, and a third market rate.”
More specifically, he said a third will be set aside for people who make between 30% and 60% of the area median income (AMI), a third will be set aside for people who make between 80% and 120% of the AMI, and a third will not be restricted by income or price.
Rome Yard, according to Van Warner, will also include 40 for-sale townhome villas with prices marked down 10% or more to encourage affordable home ownership.
Van Airsdale thinks Rome Yard could be a good start to addressing the area’s housing crisis but thinks more should be done overall, both at the local and state level.
“I mean, how do they think we’re going to survive if they don’t make it affordable? They’re not doing enough. That’s the thing,” she said. “[The housing crisis is] everywhere, not just here. But Tampa’s really horrible.”
Rome Yard is a four-phase development. The housing units are expected to be part of the first phase.
The project will take six or more years to build.
