West River Redevelopment in Tampa, Florida

West River is the rebuilding of Tampa's west bank north of Interstate 275 into a mixed income neighborhood by the City of Tampa and the Tampa Housing Authority.

The city's West River Redevelopment Plan calls for more than 1600 new residential units with a variety of housing styles and affordability, and sets the goal of having created a genuinely diverse and economically integrated community over the next 10 years. The plan is posted under the city's InVision Tampa program.

The Tampa Housing Authority describes the West River neighborhood as approximately 150 acres of land along the western banks of the Hillsborough River, spanning from Downtown Tampa to Tampa Heights. It adds that community access to the river for recreational use has been one of the City of Tampa's principal objectives over the past decade.

The two official size figures for Tampa's West River differ. The city's plan focuses on a 120 acre area, while the housing authority's neighborhood description gives approximately 150 acres; each figure is given here with the agency that states it, and neither agency's page reconciles the two.

The city's West River plan covers 120 acres bounded by Rome Avenue, Columbus Avenue, the Hillsborough River and Interstate 275.

Within that area the plan recommends reconnecting the streets and blocks to each other, strong ties with public education and community services, and a keen focus on linkages along the Hillsborough River to activities south of I-275 in North Hyde Park and on to the waters of Tampa Bay. The city's plan page offers a Revised West River Redevelopment Plan dated February 2016, a West River Area Executive Summary dated January 2014, and presentations from June and July community meetings.

The city's own pages name the northern edge two ways. The plan page says Columbus Avenue, while the city's October 2020 Rome Yard release says Columbus Drive, placing the Rome Yard immediately west of the river, east of Rome Avenue, south of Columbus Drive and north of Spruce Street, inside the West Tampa Community Redevelopment Area. That release calls Rome Yard one of many new developments in the West River area.

Former North Boulevard Homes and Mary Bethune Hi-Rise residents began moving back into rebuilt West River senior buildings, and the housing authority counted 33 of them by 2021.

The Tampa Housing Authority's West River Review for spring and summer 2021 reported that 33 previous residents of Mary Bethune Hi-Rise and North Boulevard Homes had returned to the newly redeveloped and renamed Mary McLeod Bethune Apartments and the newly constructed Renaissance at West River. The president's message in the same issue congratulated former senior residents returning to both buildings after construction.

The Bethune building was reconstructed rather than newly built. The newsletter describes the reconstruction of Mary McLeod Bethune Apartments, now an eight story building with 150 units, while the Renaissance is new construction. Both are all affordable senior housing with one and two bedroom apartments, and amenities listed include a community room, fitness center, business center, laundry facilities, a theater, a craft room and a dog park.

The West River newsletter also describes the Section 3 program, through which the Tampa Housing Authority offers job training and employment opportunities to recipients of certain HUD financial assistance, with certification handled by calling 813.341.9101, extension 3500.

By spring 2022 the Tampa Housing Authority reported 310 senior apartments and 371 Boulevard apartments complete and fully occupied, with more towers scheduled.

The housing authority's spring 2022 West River Review says the Renaissance and Mary Bethune developments were completed in late 2020 and are fully occupied for a total of 310 units, all affordable, and that three multi family buildings known as the Boulevards are 100 percent complete and fully occupied with a total of 371 units. The Boulevards at West River has four towers of eight stories each and two garages, with retail, a community room, a fitness center, a game room, a library with computer and internet access, and in unit laundry.

The last rows are schedules, not confirmed openings in Tampa. The 2022 West River newsletter lists Boulevards Towers 1 and 3 as mixed income and Towers 2 and 4 as all affordable, and says the Boulevards Tower 4 and the Villas, with 134 units between them, would be completed by late 2022.

The housing authority's two newsletters differ on two buildings. The 2021 issue describes the Villas as mixed income and Canopy Tower 3 as approximately 200 units; the 2022 issue describes the Villas as all affordable and Canopy Tower 3 as mixed income, affordable and workforce housing with 181 units. The 2022 issue adds that next to the Canopy would be a mixed use development with 150 workforce units, a national grocery store, and Manor West River with 332 market rate units.

Rome Yard is a vacant 18 acre city maintenance yard at West River's north end, and its first phase is expected to be completed in December 2026.

The City of Tampa issued a request for proposals on October 16, 2020, for approximately 18 acres of city owned land in the West Tampa Community Redevelopment Area, with proposals due by 12:00 PM on December 15, 2020. According to the city's February 26, 2021 release, six qualified candidates submitted proposals, and on February 15 the Final Selection Committee voted to interview the top three as scored by the Technical Review Committee. Candidates named in the release include InVictus Development LLC and Related Urban Development Group LLC with the Tampa Housing Authority. The city said the West Tampa CRA Community Advisory Committee helped prepare the original requirements and would take part in the selection process.

The first phase went ahead with Related. The city's May 20, 2024 release announced a groundbreaking that Tuesday afternoon for Gallery at Rome Yards, located south of Columbus Drive between Rome Avenue and the Hillsborough River, with one, two and three bedroom apartments totaling 234 units. Eighty percent of the units are reserved for households at or below 80 percent of the Area Median Income and the remaining 20 percent for workforce housing. The phase also includes five live and work units for small business owners and a workforce training center offering workplace training and resume building assistance. Mayor Jane Castor called it a joint venture between the City of Tampa, the Tampa Housing Authority and the Related Urban Group.

At build out the Rome Yards master plan converts the vacant 18 acre maintenance yard into a mixed use neighborhood with 954 units of mixed income housing, new green space, a new community amphitheater and a brick observation cigar tower paying homage to West Tampa's history. As of October 18, 2026, that May 2024 release remains the city's posted schedule, with Gallery at Rome Yards expected to be completed in December 2026, about two months away.

West River faces the Hillsborough River, where the city says the Tampa Riverwalk will be extended on the west side with a $24 million federal BUILD grant.

The city's 2020 Rome Yard release says the grant was awarded to the City of Tampa by the Department of Transportation. The Tampa Housing Authority describes the river as approximately 300 feet wide and a recreational waterway that families from neighborhoods at all income levels can enjoy, and the city's plan links West River along the river to North Hyde Park south of I-275.

West River is also part of a citywide housing push. In the 2026 State of the City address, posted May 5, 2026, Mayor Castor said the city has invested more than $100 million in affordable housing since 2019, including 8,300 new affordable homes, and named West River and Rome Yards alongside The Marquee, Bel-Mar, Robles Park and the Army-Navy site in north downtown as developments redefining affordable housing.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-reading the City of Tampa West River plan page, the city's 2020, 2021 and 2024 Rome Yard releases, the 2026 State of the City release, and the Tampa Housing Authority's West River history page and 2021 and 2022 West River Review newsletters.