Hundreds of city employees will move to new center in Tampa
TAMPA, Fla. - The city of Tampa’s new city center on Hanna Avenue is nearly completed after a delay and years of planning for a one-stop shop housing six departments.
About 500 employees will work from the new city center and will start moving in on Sept. 1.
That’s later than originally planned. The city of Tampa’s logistics and assets management director Adri Colina said they ran into some delays after the initial completion goal of July.
"We did actually [run into delays.] Hurricane Ian, you know we had to take everything down, secure it just like everyone did at their residential homes, and then bring it all back, set back up and pick up some time there," said Colina. "Then of course, we ran into a few supply chain issues but not enough to really take it out of range completely."
READ: Tampa's new Tenant Services Team helps people find affordable rent
Colina said city leaders also wanted the project to add in solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations, tacking on an extra $7 million to the $101 million budget. The new city center includes three buildings and a parking garage.
Hanna Avenue is where the new city center will be.
With just a month to go before move-in day, there’s landscaping work and finishing touches left.
The building will be the new home for code enforcement, affordable housing, the equal opportunity workforce development office, the purchasing department, business tax and technology and innovation offices, according to Colina. Those departments are currently in buildings that have expiring leases.
"That lease at our Lemon Street office is up. That building will be demolished to make way for the I-275 expansion. So that has really been our driving force to get them over here," explained Colina.
Getting them to the new city center adds traffic, plus there will be residents, contractors and others coming for city services. So, the city is changing mobility. City planners held a public meeting Thursday to listen to neighbor concerns.
"We’re looking at a four-neighborhood area. We’re making sidewalk improvements like on 24th Street where we know there are senior communities using assistive devices. We’re adding a signal further north on 30th and Sligh, adding a turn lane there," said Vik Bhide, mobility department director for the city of Tampa. "In general, citywide, we see a lot of growth. That has a lot of positives. It also had a lot of pressures and negatives and stressors."
The new building will house several different departments.
Bhide said the city will take what they heard Thursday and come up with a design that will be shown to neighbors again before construction on lanes and sidewalks begins.
"You’ll see the signal work going on very soon. We’re ordering the materials right now so that will happen first. While the design for roadway elements and bike lanes and all is going on, we’ll be doing other works as well," said Bhide.
The city hopes to have everyone in the main building by the end of September. Fleet maintenance and facilities management for the city will move in by October and November, Colina said.