Residential project 'sparked' by Gasworx to start construction

Construction is expected to begin Friday on one of the first projects spawned by the Gasworx development in Tampa’s Ybor City.

Tampa-based Sight Development is building 79 town houses at 1218 E. Kay St., which is off of Nebraska Avenue and about a mile from Ybor City. The development, which will be built in two phases, is being described as “industrial chic” and prices will start at $735,000.

The developer is holding a ceremonial groundbreaking Friday morning.

The town homes are being built near a historically underserved, high-crime and low-income part of the city that is slowly becoming more upscale and higher dollar. This transformation has led to questions about whether longtime residents, some who have not lived anywhere else in the city, will be part of the change or if they will they be priced out. And, if they are priced out, where they will go as the city’s rents and home prices rise at record rates.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who regularly discusses the need for more affordable and attainable housing in the city, is scheduled to attend the groundbreaking.

Canvas GWX, as the development will be called, will have units ranging from 2,100 to 2,400 square feet and will include rooftop terraces and a community garden. The industrial-style architecture is “influenced by the Ybor City warehouse and factories that have been converted into artist studios, lofts and maker spaces.”

To date, 18 units are already under contract. A commercial building sitting on Nebraska Avenue will be restored for future use.

Sight says in a statement announcing the groundbreaking that its development was “sparked” by the 50-acre Gasworx project under construction nearby.

It calls Gasworx a “pioneering project” that is “already serving as a catalyst for investment in Ybor, sparking more housing and businesses in neighboring areas.”

When complete Gasworx, which is being built between Ybor City and downtown, will include 5,000 residences, 500,000 square feet of office space and 140,000 square feet of retail space.

Construction began in March on a residential piece that will include 719 multifamily units on the site of the old Tampa Park Apartments. The first of the two buildings to come out of the ground will be made up of 315 units.