Tampa City Council unanimously approved close to $7 million for the redevelopment of the Perry Harvey Senior Park in Downtown. The approved plan includes demolishing the Bro Bowl skateboarding park.
Demolishing the Bro Bowl has been a long debated issue but the vote took less than ten minutes.
Councilman Frank Reddick said it is time to move things along.
"This has been delayed for a long time because of one issue," he said. "We need to move this process forward."
Tampa City Council approved $6.94 million to start phase one of the park's face lift. The redevelopment includes a new gateway portal, musically-themed sculptures, an interactive fountain, a restroom building,a local history walk, and a statue in honor of Perry Harvey Sr, a civil rights activist.
The park's face lift is meant to honor the black community that thrived on Central Avenue before the 1960's urban renewal did away with most of the businesses there.
Funding for the park redevelopment is as follows:
- $4,348,739 by Community Investment Taxes
- $500,000 by Community Development Grants
- $100,000 by National Endowment for the Arts Grant
- $2,000,000 by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop Choice Neighborhoods Grant (passed through the Tampa Housing Authority)
A part of the funding won't be available until fiscal year 2015. $1,512,052 is dependent upon that fiscal year's budget.
The 36-year-old Bro Bowl will be laser-graded surveyed to capture the exact characteristics of the bowl to later be replicated on the north end of the park. Changing the original structure of the bowl will no longer qualify it for the National Register of Historic Places.
The current park is expected to be closed off in September for construction.
