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Tampa Heights transforms into premier neighborhood with bright future ahead

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Published  August 26, 2024 6:55pm EDT
Tampa
FOX 13 News

The transformation of Tampa Heights

Lloyd Sowers reports

TAMPA, Fla. - Imagine Tampa Heights without the massive Armature Works food and entertainment venue, the critically acclaimed Ulele restaurant with its legend of a native princess, and Waterworks Park, built on the site of Tampa's original water supply. 

They are cool spots that weren’t there not so long ago. 

"In the last decade, Tampa Heights has transformed," said Brian Seel, a board member of the Tampa Heights Civic Association. "There were no destinations in terms of restaurants. The parks were underserved."

READ: 'A labor of love': West Tampa cigar factory turned into housing for University of Tampa students

Tampa Heights had fallen from its heyday more than a century ago when it was Tampa's richest neighborhood. 

"This is Tampa's oldest suburb. The owners of the cigar factories lived here. Then it fell in decline," said Richard Gonzmart, the owner of Ulele. 

Less than a decade ago, Armature Works was just the shell of an old building with no roof and Ulele was a water department building used for storage. Then, Gonzmart and former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn made a deal that would connect the neighborhood's past with its future.

"Richard took the risk, put his capitol in, the city put the land and the building in and what emerged from that has become a destination on the Riverwalk and tremendously successful," said Buckhorn.

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Ulele is celebrating its 10th anniversary as Tampa Heights again becomes one of the city's premier neighborhoods. Property values have skyrocketed, and dozens of new businesses have opened in the community. 

But, this neighborhood built from the past has challenges in the future. Like many parts of our area, affordable housing is an issue and there's a lack of mass transit. 

Leaders said a planned extension of the streetcar line to connect downtown with Tampa Heights with larger streetcars will be a major factor, but federal funding for the project hasn't come through yet. Still, the major players who got this started a decade ago said there's more to come.

"I was brought here to bring this back and restore the area," said Gonzmart, who attended elementary school four blocks from Ulele. 

"I think you will see another chapter of this amazing history of Tampa over the next decade if we do it right," said Buckhorn. 

This neighborhood with a prestigious past and an amazing decade of redevelopment now looks toward the future.

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