Downtown Tampa’s north side is in for a serious makeover, as PMG Affordable has been tapped to turn four city-owned acres into a mixed-use neighborhood centered on housing and connections instead of highway ramps. The plan calls for roughly 1,150 homes with new ground-floor retail, and about 70 percent of those units reserved for affordable or workforce housing. City leaders say the project is designed to stitch back together a piece of the Central Business District that has been sliced up for years by access roads to I-275.
According to the City of Tampa, a PMG Affordable-led team won the request-for-proposal process to redevelop four parcels owned by the City and the Community Redevelopment Agency between N. Tampa Street and E. Ashley Drive. The original RFP set a minimum of 800 homes for the site; PMG’s pitch comes in about 30 percent higher, at 1,150 units, with the city noting that about 70 percent of those would be committed as affordable and workforce housing.
Industry coverage notes that the properties include the former Army–Navy Surplus Market site and a nearby parcel known as the Royal lot, and that the development team brings together the Tampa Housing Authority, Bank of America Community Development Company LLC and DuCon, LLC. As ConnectCRE reports, PMG framed the bigger unit count as part of a public-private partnership that would layer in street-level retail and services. Project materials also highlight the site’s proximity to the Ashley Drive on-ramp to I-275, which could be reconfigured to make it less of a barrier for people on foot.
What the plan would build
The PMG proposal sketches out a mix of towers and mid-rise buildings with active ground floors, public open spaces and new retail, described as the first major affordable housing project inside Tampa’s Central Business District. “We can’t overstate the importance of workforce housing in our community,” Mayor Jane Castor said in the city’s announcement, according to the City of Tampa. The release adds that any changes to the Ashley Drive on-ramp will go through the planning process, with an eye toward better connectivity and safer walking routes.
PMG's local track record
PMG Affordable is already deep into one high-profile housing overhaul in Tampa. The firm is a partner on the Robles Park Village redevelopment, a multi-phase project that began demolition in 2025 and is slated to deliver more than 1,200 affordable homes along with community amenities, according to WUSF. That experience, and PMG’s existing ties with the Tampa Housing Authority and Bank of America, sets expectations for what North Downtown might get while also sharpening the questions residents and housing advocates are likely to raise as plans take shape. Officials say community engagement will be built into the next phase.
Next steps and community review
With the RFP process wrapped and PMG’s bid selected, the city and its partners now move into design review, permitting and outreach, industry reports say. ConnectCRE reported the selection today, following the city’s own announcement last Monday. A detailed construction schedule has not yet been released, and any reworking of the Ashley Drive ramp will have to be sorted out as part of the formal planning process.
Why it matters
If it advances as pitched, the project could place hundreds of affordable and workforce homes within walking distance of downtown jobs, opening the door for teachers, first responders and service workers who currently travel in from farther out. It would also reshape one of the most car-dominated edges of Tampa’s core, potentially improving pedestrian and transit links around I-275. For now, all eyes will be on how deeply the affordability commitments run, what the buildings actually look like and when the promised infrastructure changes arrive.
