Inside Tampa’s $700 Million Overhaul of Robles Park Village

The redevelopment of Robles Park Village in Tampa Heights is slated to begin in late 2025. Robles Park Village, one of the city’s oldest affordable housing projects, is on the verge of a significant transformation. The affordable housing division of Property Markets Group (PMG) is just over a week away from final approval of its plans. After Tampa City Council unanimously approved the redevelopment in June, the project is set for a second hearing on Aug. 23.

Since 2020, PMG has been working on this ambitious project, following their engagement by the Tampa Housing Authority to master plan the redevelopment of Robles Park. Spanning 30 acres in a dense urban neighborhood close to downtown Tampa, Robles Park Village is a unique opportunity in redevelopment projects, according to Dan Coakley, principal of PMG’s affordable housing division. The total investment in the redevelopment is projected to exceed $700 million.

“We’re just 10 minutes away from the employment center that is downtown Tampa,” Coakley shared with the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “In the past, many have had to travel an hour and a half or more for a $20-an-hour job, which is clearly unfair and unsustainable.”

“Our primary goal is to reconnect this site with the rest of the city — it’s so close to the heart of Tampa, yet has remained cut off,” Coakley emphasized.

Jake Cremer, a partner at Stearns Weaver Miller in Tampa, represents PMG in this project. Stantec serves as the engineer, while Baker Barrios takes on the role of architect. Although PMG has not yet selected a general contractor, Banc of America Community Redevelopment Corp. has joined as a partner within the master developer entity. This group previously collaborated with the Tampa Housing Authority on the Encore project, a mixed-income district in downtown Tampa.

Originally opened in October 1954, Robles Park currently has 436 units spread across 67 buildings. The redevelopment will dramatically increase the residential units to 1,850, with 1,283 designated for affordable housing. Mixed-income developments, such as Encore and the West River, have been relatively new to Tampa over the past 15 years. However, Tampa Housing Authority’s success in this area is recognized nationally.

“We operate in many major markets, and the Tampa Housing Authority is widely regarded as the gold standard among housing authorities,” Coakley remarked. “Every unit we develop on-site will meet high-end, market-rate standards, accommodating tenants across a wide spectrum of income levels, from very low income to unrestricted market-rate tenants.”

Current residents of Robles Park will be relocated during construction, a process that has already been underway for months. If PMG’s financing proceeds as planned, construction will begin in late 2025, with each building expected to take 24 to 30 months to complete. A 30,000-square-foot community center will be incorporated into the first vertical buildings on the site.

“Affordable housing financing is competitive,” Coakley noted, “but we are optimistic about our project’s prospects.”

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