Tampa development to bring YMCA, hotel, apartments to historic neighborhood

A Tampa developer is planning a major mixed-use development to be built in the city’s Tampa Heights neighborhood.

The plans call for 477 apartments, 184,000 square feet of office space and 100,000 square feet of retail as well as a 200-room hotel, 20,000 square feet of green space and a YMCA. At least 10% of the apartments will be reserved as affordable housing and a portion of the retail will be for small, minority-owned businesses.

Ellison Development says it expects to break ground on the first phase, which includes the YMCA, next summer with plans to complete the work by early 2026. In all, it is expected to take five years to finish the entire project.

The Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA will anchor the development and at 110,000 square feet will be double the size of the existing location at 110 E. Palm Ave.

The new YMCA will include a licensed pre-school, before- and after-school care, teen programs, and summer day camps. It will also have a rooftop pool, pickleball courts and a skybridge over Florida Avenue that will connect to parking and corporate offices.

The current location will remain open until the new one is complete.

Tampa Heights is a neighborhood that’s north of downtown Tampa with Interstate 275 to the south and the Hillsborough River to the west. According to the neighborhood’s civic association, it was first settled in the 1880’s as the city’s first suburb. Today, after a period in the 1960s and 1970s when a push to the suburbs sent residents elsewhere, the neighborhood has come back and is home to coffee shops, breweries and restaurants and a growing population.

Ellison is a local development company. Along with this project, it is also involved in Orange Station in St. Petersburg on the site of that city’s former police headquarters.