TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — On the site of the old Fun-Lan Drive-In Theatre along East Hillsborough Avenue, the future of housing in Tampa is taking shape. Marquee Square, a 354-unit mixed-income apartment community, opened its doors this month with rents starting as low as $804 a month — a welcome sight in a city where affordable housing is a hot commodity.
For Sherman Lovett, who has been searching alongside a friend for more than a year and a half, the opening feels almost unreal.
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“It freaked me out," he said. "Me and her, we had passed by them long time ago, and we said, oh, we can't afford him,” Lovett said. “Those are condominiums. We're looking at $2,000, $3,000 $1,500 a month. You know, we only getting $800, $900 a month in Social Security. So forget about that.”
But Lovett said once he saw what Marquee Square really had to offer, he decided to bring his friend by.
“They’re very, very nice, kind of small a little bit, but you don't need a bigger apartment,” he said. “If it's only you, it's only one person, because she just told me that they're only dealing right now in one or two bedrooms, and the third one is probably going to be laid on down the line.”
A growing crisis
The new development comes at a critical moment for Tampa. A recently completed Housing Needs Assessment found the city’s greatest need is not for luxury or middle-income housing, but for units affordable to households earning less than 60 percent of the area median income. For a family of four, that’s about $83,000 or less per year.
“Looking at the data and the reality that our city needs to accommodate 60,000 more residents in two decades, developments like Marquee Square are crucial to achieving that goal and serving our community,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a release. “This may be a drop in the bucket, but these public-private partnerships are setting a precedent and we hope to continue down this path to get more people in homes they can afford.”
City officials say the urgency is clear. Tampa is on track to lose nearly 1,000 units of existing affordable housing by 2032. That’s because many were built decades ago with agreements requiring them to stay affordable for 30 to 50 years. Once those agreements expire, landlords can return the properties to market-rate rents.
Additionally, the city is expected to add 60,000 residents by 2045, further compounding the demand for housing at prices that working families can afford.
“While over the next eight years while they come offline, we will be introducing new units that will be coming online,” Feeley said. “So hopefully, that impact will not be a substantially negative impact, as we will still be adding new units.”
Still, replacing old units with new ones has been slow, and residents often find themselves left behind.
“It’s frustrating because there are, I mean, you know, everything is going up,” Lovett said. “Groceries are going up, housing is going up. I mean, everything is going up. But you see, especially, from the hurricane last year, Helene and Milton, and they just destroyed all these people houses… People still going through the hurt and the disappointment from last year.”
Abbye Feeley, Tampa’s administrator of development and economic opportunity, said that while the city can negotiate extensions, it is just as important to build new stock.
“A lot of those units are not, quote-unquote, our units,” Feeley said. “They are our units because they serve our population, but some of them are under the housing authority's jurisdiction, or another entity. So these are units that, at the time they were built, had affordability periods on them. A lot of them were 30 years, some are at 50 years.”
Marquee Square, by comparison, comes with a 99-year affordability agreement.
“A lot of the housing we've gotten is in between that 80 percent area median income and 140 percent area median income, and that's not necessarily where our need is,” said Feeley. “This helps us in understanding that, and understanding also what our needs will be based on our projected population that is forthcoming in the next 20 years.”
A mixed-income future
The $12 million city-backed project was developed by The Richman Group, which touted the benefits of locating the apartments in the East Tampa Community Redevelopment Area.
“This project represents more than just buildings – it is about creating opportunities, stability, and long-term investment in a culturally rich and historically significant community,” said Todd Fabbri, president of The Richman Group of Florida. “Our team is honored to play a part in supporting the essential workers and families who are the backbone of this city.”
Apartments will rent to families making between 50 and 120 percent of the area's median income. The units range from one to two bedrooms, with monthly rents starting at $804 for a one-bedroom unit and $954 for a two-bedroom unit.
The property will also feature modern amenities: a resort-style pool and spa, fitness center, yoga room, game lounge, co-working spaces, pet spa, and dog walking area. Roadway improvements along 22nd Avenue were also built into the project.
On the city level, city leaders are pushing for longer affordability agreements in new developments, with more following the agreement with The Richman Group; stretching to 99 years. Still, Feeley said it will take more than new construction to solve the problem.
“So, the city's approach to the housing needs is really a multifaceted approach,” she said. “It's not just about building units, it's about also looking at our land development regulations, it's about looking at partnership opportunities. We're blessed enough to have community redevelopment areas that also have committed 30 percent of their TIF funds to housing, and for fiscal year 26, that's about $26 million across our CRAs.”
That money is funding programs like homeowner rehabilitation and repair, down payment assistance for first-time buyers, and rental move-in assistance that helps residents cover deposits and first month’s rent — often the biggest obstacle to securing housing.
A personal reality
For residents like Lovett, the issue is far more basic than pools or gyms.
“Well, it's more like it's frustrating because there are, I mean, you know, everything is going up,” he said. “Groceries are going up, housing is going up. I mean, everything is going up. But you see, especially, from the hurricane last year, Helene and Milton, and they just destroyed all these people houses… People still going through the hurt and the disappointment from last year, so they're trying to find a place to stay, and it's kind of hard for them to do that, especially with their income.”
Lovett, who moved to Tampa in 1959, said he has seen the city change dramatically. Affordable housing, he said, has not kept up.
“You gotta look all over the world before you can find something affordable, that's the problem,” he said. “Now that they did something like this, then maybe it's a hope in the future that more will pop up. We're hoping more will pop up because it's needed. It's not like it's not needed. It's needed, you know.”
Balancing the numbers
Feeley said the city’s strategy goes beyond new construction. Tampa is also funding homeowner repair programs, down payment assistance, and rental move-in assistance that helps residents cover deposits and first month’s rent.
“It is not a one-size-fits-all approach,” Feeley said. “We’re also looking at accessory dwelling units… Some people refer to them as mother-in-law flats. That allows you to have a separately rented unit on your homesteaded unit.”
With 52 percent of Tampa residents renting, the stakes are high. If affordable housing continues to disappear, Feeley warned, the ripple effects will be felt in the workforce, the economy, and even the environment.
“When you have people who have to drive 30 or 45 minutes on the roads, creates congestion, can't live where they're working, can't… spend the money that they're making in their own city where they're working. It's just so multifaceted,” she said. “This is not just a housing problem. It's a community and an economy problem.”
The federal benchmark for affordability is that no household should spend more than 30 percent of its income on housing. However, in Tampa, that line is blurred for thousands of residents who are paying far more just to keep a roof over their heads.
“Teachers, firefighters, our service workers, when they are having to spend more than 30 percent of their income, which is really that sweet spot on housing, and transportation and other things, that's when we suffer from not being able to adequately support our workforce,” Feeley said.
For Lovett, the hope is simpler.
“I want 10 million of these to spring up now,” he said.
Matquee Square has opened one building. It's already fully leased to people seeking affordable housing units. There are currently a few still available under the workforce housing threshold: that's anyone making 120% AMI.
The next building is expected to open in October. There are six buildings in total, with a plan to open a new one within 30 days of the last.
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