Tampa Places Guide: Historic Districts, Redevelopment Areas, MacDill and Egmont Key

The City of Tampa maps four local historic districts, Hyde Park, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights and Ybor City, and three national historic districts, Hampton Terrace, West Tampa and Palmetto Beach (City of Tampa, Historic District Maps).

The Tampa local district maps also show the national boundaries, and the City of Tampa warns that its maps should not be the only guide to a building's status and asks anyone unsure whether a property sits in a local or national district to call the Architectural Review and Historic Preservation Division at (813) 274-3100, option 3 (District Maps).

Hyde Park is the district that most recently grew. Effective January 5, 2023, the Hyde Park Historic District expanded north to take in 184 more buildings in the Hyde Park Spanishtown Creek Civic Association and Historic Hyde Park Neighborhood Association neighborhoods, after City Council approved the ordinance on second reading that day (City of Tampa, Hyde Park Historic District Expansion). The Hyde Park, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, West Tampa and Palmetto Beach guides each trace how the district came to be.

Tampa has eight Community Redevelopment Areas: Central Park, Channel District, Downtown, Drew Park, East Tampa, Tampa Heights Riverfront, West Tampa and Ybor City, with City Council members serving as the redevelopment agency board (City of Tampa, Community Redevelopment Areas).

The Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency works under the Community Redevelopment Act in Chapter 163, Part III, Florida Statutes and works with a Community Advisory Committee in each area (Tampa CRA). The CRA page has an address lookup that shows whether a Tampa property falls inside one of the districts.

The 2026 CRA news on that page shows what is moving: work began June 24, 2026 on a complete rebuild of the West Tampa Recreation Center; on September 2, 2026 the CRA and the City were set to break ground on 20 affordable units; and on October 14, 2026 the Tampa CRA awarded its first commercial design grant (Tampa CRA news). The Channel District, Drew Park, East Tampa, Tampa Heights and West Tampa guides cover each district's history and its current projects.

Palmetto Beach, on McKay Bay, is getting the Pathways to Palmetto rebuild of Bermuda Boulevard, funded by a $24.7 million federal grant the City of Tampa announced in June 2024 (City of Tampa, June 2024).

The city describes Bermuda Boulevard in Palmetto Beach as having narrow sidewalks, no sidewalk along the bay and wide travel lanes that encourage high speeds (City of Tampa). In June 2024 city staff were still finalizing the grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation, so the five year window is a ceiling, not a schedule. The Palmetto Beach guide covers the cigar era roots of the neighborhood and its National Register listing.

The Town of North Tampa was abolished along with the Town of Tampa on July 15, 1887, when a special act of the Florida Legislature created the City of Tampa charter (City of Tampa City Clerk).

The West Tampa guide and the Port Tampa City guide cover two more Tampa communities with their own charters, including the dates the City of Tampa took them in. The New Tampa guide covers how the north end of the city was annexed, and the Tampa Heights guide covers the Town of North Tampa.

Dobyville is a different case: a neighborhood, not a town, where relatively few buildings remain. The City of Tampa Soulwalk marker says it was named for long time resident Richard Cornelius Doby, was also called West Hyde Park, and by the 1920s was one of Tampa's primary African American neighborhoods (City of Tampa, Soulwalk Dobyville marker). Rezoning for industrial uses in the 1950s cut its population north of Kennedy Boulevard, and the South Crosstown Expressway, opened in 1976, demolished many of its homes and businesses. The Dobyville guide tells that story in full.

MacDill Air Force Base is a 5,695 acre installation on the Interbay Peninsula in Tampa whose host unit, the 6th Air Refueling Wing, flies 26 KC-135R/T Stratotanker aircraft (MacDill AFB, 6th Air Refueling Wing fact sheet).

The Tampa base employs a total workforce of more than 15,800 active duty military and civilian personnel and supports an additional 11,000 military dependents and about 40,000 military retirees living in the Tampa Bay region, according to the wing fact sheet (fact sheet). The wing supports Headquarters U.S. Central Command and Headquarters U.S. Special Operations Command.

MacDill's own pages count the base's tenants three ways. The fact sheet names 44 joint mission partners, while the MacDill About Us page counts 33 associate units from all branches, including Central Command, Special Operations Command and the 927th Air Refueling Wing, and its mission statement on the same page names 34 mission partners (MacDill AFB, About Us). Both were live on October 14, 2026, and neither page explains the difference, so any count quoted for the Tampa base should name which page it came from. The MacDill Air Force Base guide covers its history and the commands it hosts, and the Ballast Point guide covers the South Tampa point where the city park at 5300 Interbay Blvd. is open 6 am to 8 pm but its pier is still closed after Hurricanes Helene and Milton (City of Tampa, Ballast Point Park).

Yes, but only by boat: Egmont Key State Park at the mouth of Tampa Bay is open 8 a.m. to sunset every day with no fee (Florida State Parks, Egmont Key State Park).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the remote 250 acre island a national wildlife refuge in 1974, and it is managed jointly as Egmont Key State Park (USFWS, Egmont Key NWR). Bird sanctuaries on the south end cover about a third of the island, approximately 97 acres, set aside for wildlife to rest, nest and feed, and the refuge provides habitat for over 30,000 nesting pairs of birds.

Egmont Key holds the remains of Fort Dade and a lighthouse that Florida State Parks says has stood since 1858, and it is on the National Register of Historic Places for its part in the Seminole Wars, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War (USFWS; Florida State Parks). The park office answers at 727-241-6106. Florida State Parks reopened the island effective August 12, 2026, but all structures remain closed to the public (Florida State Parks). The Egmont Key guide covers Fort Dade and the pilots station.

Seventeen Tampa place guides sit under this hub, from Davis Islands and Harbour Island to New Tampa, Egmont Key and MacDill.

Several Tampa places carry two labels at once: West Tampa is both a national historic district and a redevelopment area, and Tampa Heights is a local historic district and gives its name to the Tampa Heights Riverfront redevelopment area (City of Tampa; Tampa CRA). Last verified: October 14, 2026, on the City of Tampa historic district and CRA pages.