Tampa developer gets $3 million affordable housing grant for Ybor City apartment complex

TAMPA, Fla. - If you had told Ponce McNeal he would one day be responsible for redeveloping a now-vacant plot in Ybor City, he would never have believed you.

"I would have told you to get out of here," said McNeal.

But soon, construction workers hired by the Pittman Design Group will be at Columbus Drive and East 22nd Street to start building a 10-unit apartment complex reserved for those making 80% of the area's median income, or about $70,000.

The city has granted Pittman Design Group $3 million.

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The Tampa Bay Tech grads are no longer just Tampa natives – they're changing Tampa.

"Now, I feel the connection, because we can actually start building homes for people who grew up here and people who support this community," shared Dontavious Pittman, the namesake of the group.

The city has granted them $3 million in funds from a state affordable housing program.

The Pittman Design Group team graduated from Tampa Bay Tech.

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Three hundred thousand dollars per unit for an apartment complex is an up-front investment in what the city hopes will lead to generations of economic activity from the 10 families in Ybor City and East Tampa.

"This is decades and decades that families will be able to live here comfortably in an apartment that they can afford," said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.

The growth downtown has created jobs and brought national events, but it has also skyrocketed housing prices everywhere. In just 10 years, the cost of a $250,000 house has gone to $350,000.

Ponce McNeal says he would have never guessed being responsible for a Ybor redevelopment.

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"This is the new normal, post-pandemic," said Castor. "Construction prices have increased close to 40%. So the materials, you know, that we just have to accept that."

For the Pittman group, Tampa's challenge represents their responsibility.

"I see natives living here and having access to all the focal points of the city, downtown, Ybor, everywhere," said developer Kevin Johnson.

The apartment complex is now in the permitting phase and is expected to be ready to go the end of 2024.