As a resident of South of Gandy for 16 years, I’ve witnessed countless redevelopments within my community and surrounding area but never in all those years has it been a significant issue up until a couple years ago.
Many residents of not only SOG, but all of Tampa have been firsthand witnesses to the overbuild of apartment buildings and unnecessary shopping centers, creating a wave of overpopulation in the Tampa area and a rise in anger from native residents. Over the past few years Tampa has had a big ‘Move Here’ sign as it’s one of the fastest growing cities in America, with an area population of 3,009,000. That is a 1.07% increase from 2023 according to an article on macrotrends.com about the Tampa Metro Area Population over the years.
As of currently, there is speculation that the 1960s mall Westshore Plaza on Westshore and Kennedy will receive a makeover as well as a south Tampa staple, Britton Plaza on Dale Mabry Hwy. With these speculations floating there has been an uprise in anger from locals, me included. Although I don’t live in the area any longer, I attend my school in the area on the daily and reside in the area often making me all the more passionate about these redevelopments. Seeing an area where I used to live become unrecognizable within the same year feels like history erasing.
These redevelopments only cause a continued increase of people in the area. While Tampa is an amazing city to live in, there are too many people here. These redevelopments aren’t only killing history, but breaking communities along with it. This issue is becoming more familiar within the area and is known as gentrification. Gentrification is the process in which a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in, improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current inhabitants in the process. With these new developments, nine times out of ten they come with an array of overpriced apartments. This ultimately raises the cost of living in the surrounding area which, leads to inevitable displacement of citizens and their families. People who once were struggling to afford rent have no choice but to move. This has happened countless times already in the area, just recently with the building of Midtown a few years back and the issue only continuing to worsen.
In an article by WFTS Tampa Bay from 2022, it’s described that historically black and ethnic neighborhoods are struggling to keep afloat in the sea of gentrification that Tampa faces.
“It is even pricier in historically black neighborhoods like Tampa Heights where Realtor.com lists the average on the market at half a million dollars,” the article stated.
It’s heartbreaking to see such staples of a community go away, and while I understand it’s all in the name of making it better, I feel as if they’re doing the opposite. These companies do what they want for the dollar signs and don’t take into consideration the effects their actions.
Hopefully, the speculations remain speculations. If not, it’s heartbreaking to see these iconic Tampa locations go and be destroyed.
