An affordable housing option is coming to South Tampa.
The Casa Bel-Mar apartments, a joint effort between several public and private partners, is set to offer 100 affordable units of new construction to residents by 2024. The proposed four-story, mid-rise apartment will offer one- and two-bedroom apartments subsidized for low-income residents who earn between 30 to 80 percent of the area’s median income.
Leroy Moore, vice president of the Tampa Housing Authority, said that 75 of the 100 units will be reserved for residents already on the agency’s waitlist for housing choice vouchers, also known as Section 8.
“It's important to realize that it’s not a mad rush to the door … these families will be pulled from a waitlist that's about a year-and-a-half old,” he said.
The waitlist, which last opened for a week in June of 2022, received around 18,000 applications.
Moore said the Casa Bel-Mar development is a small step toward meeting this overwhelming need.
While most of the units will be allocated to those on the waitlist, the remaining 25 units will be available for rent to individuals not on the list. Ninety days prior to the project’s completion, pre-leasing applications should become available online, according to Moore.
Brett Green, the president of the Orlando-based development firm on the project, said construction is currently on a 15-month schedule. Besides possible supply-chain disruptions, Green feels positive that the biggest obstacles on this project are behind him.
He noted the particular challenges of financing and developing affordable housing, including locating land for new construction.
“Land costs are a huge expense. I mean, especially in Tampa Bay, we can find hardly any land to build on. I mean, everyone's getting scooped for, you know, a Chick-fil-A or a new market-rate development,” he said.
He added that the positive effects from the Live Local Act, a new pro-housing law in Florida, could start to be felt by affordable housing developers in coming months.
READ MORE: Florida passed historic pro-housing legislation. Here's what you need to know
In this case, for the Casa Bel-Mar project, Green said that nearly two acres of land was purchased from the Bel-Mar Presbyterian Church in South Tampa, which had started losing congregants throughout the pandemic.
“So we were able to take this existing property and something that was being underutilized and create something for 100 brand new families,” he said.
Once constructed, the apartment building will bear the name Casa Bel-Mar to pay homage to the Bel-Mar Presbyterian Church.
Green said the development has also committed to preserving and displaying the church’s historical record on-site, as well as lease a 1,500 square-foot retail space to the church at close to no cost for 20 years.
Also stipulated the land-purchase agreement, the development will be indefinitely operated as affordable housing — well beyond the federal requirement of 30 years for low-income housing projects.
On Wednesday, the Tampa Housing Authority will host a groundbreaking ceremony to invite members of the community to the development site. Among other community leaders, Mayor Jane Castor is confirmed to attend the event, scheduled for 9:30 a.m, according to the press release.
Gabriella Paul covers the stories of people living paycheck to paycheck in the greater Tampa Bay region for WUSF. She's also a Report for America corps member. Here’s how you can share your story with her.
