Downtown History

The need to initiate redevelopment efforts lies in the conspicuous difference between the blighting influences and development weaknesses present in the Redevelopment Areas. Certain conditions in the Redevelopment Areas make private investment there much less attractive than in other areas. These are: substandard structural conditions; unsuitable lot layout; inadequate infrastructure; crime; deteriorated and sometimes hazardous street conditions; major street patterns that do not complement each other; oppressive traffic flow; and diverse ownership making reassembly of substandard sized lots difficult or impossible without public incentives. These things make it very unlikely that the Redevelopment Areas will experience growth, investment and expansion of the tax base without special stimuli. The Plans are designed to do away with unsafe conditions; eliminate obsolete and detrimental uses; and develop a framework that will increase the confidence of the private investor in the commercial and residential Redevelopment Areas; and thereby generate the large-scale Downtown development that is beneficial to the entire City of Tampa and Hillsborough County.