Tampa Housing Authority, BOA start Ella at Encore

BUYER: The Ella at Encore LP (principals: Hazel Harvey, Robert Shimberg, Jerome Ryans, Manny Alverez, Billi Johnson-Griffin and Ruben Padgett), Tampa

SELLER: Housing Authority of the City of Tampa

PROPERTY: Southwest corner of Nebraska Avenue and Cass Street, Tampa

PRICE: $1.6 million

LAW FIRM ON DEED: Saxon Gilmore Carraway & Gibbons PA, Tampa

PLANS, DESCRIPTION: The Housing Authority of the City of Tampa has sold the first of 12 building pads in its Encore development in Tampa to a joint venture entity it shares with the Bank of America Community Development Corp. for $1.6 million.

The sale was done as part of the start of construction on the first phase of the development, a 160-unit senior housing building known as the Ella at Encore. Tampa's Hardin Construction is the general contractor for the project.

The housing authority hopes to start the second phase of the project, a 152-unit senior housing project, shortly after the first of the year.

The housing authority has plans to construct three buildings, but eventually the 28-acre site is designed to hold a total of eight or nine buildings, including a 200-room hotel, 180,000 square feet of office space and 85,000 square feet of retail space.