A familiar South Tampa strip center is on track for a serious glow-up: a Winter Park developer wants to swap out the former Gandy Commercial Plaza for a five-story, 345-unit apartment community on roughly 6.9 acres along W. Gandy Blvd. The plan calls for a structured parking garage wrapped by apartments, a central courtyard and more than 500 parking spaces.
Of the 345 apartments, 138 would be reserved as workforce housing with 30-year affordability restrictions. Those homes would be aimed at households earning up to 120% of the area median income.
As reported by Tampa Bay Business & Wealth, Winter Park based Epoch Properties entered into an agreement earlier this year to acquire the Gandy site and is moving the project forward under Florida's Live Local Act. The outlet notes that Epoch has not released a construction timeline or total project cost and could not be reached for additional comment.
Project Site And Public Records
Public property and commercial listings identify the two parcels at 4465 and 4467 W. Gandy Blvd. as part of Gandy Commercial Plaza and treat them as separate tax parcels. Commercial property pages for the site, including Compass, show parcel boundaries and acreage figures that line up with the roughly 6.9-acre development footprint Epoch is planning. Those records help clarify how the land could be assembled for a single multifamily project.
How The Live Local Act Matters
The proposal is being advanced under Florida's Live Local Act, a 2023 state law that gives developers a path to build denser multifamily housing on commercially or industrially zoned land when a significant share of units are reserved as affordable. The Florida Senate's bill text outlines the law's framework for by-right review along with tax breaks and permitting incentives tied to qualifying affordability set-asides.
Legal And Political Questions
Live Local has stirred up regional controversy. Hillsborough County filed a lawsuit earlier this year challenging the law's constitutionality, a move that could complicate how both the county and the city handle Live Local applications. Coverage of the case shows cities and residents wrestling with whether the state should be able to override local land-use controls in the name of speeding up housing production.
Next Steps For The Gandy Plan
Before any shovels hit the ground, city planning staff will have to review site and utility plans and verify that the proposal qualifies under Live Local rules. As Tampa Bay Business & Wealth reports, Epoch has not yet published a construction schedule, and the purchase agreement for the property was only reached earlier this year, so a formal timeline is still to come.
How This Fits With Other Filings
The Gandy proposal joins a growing wave of Live Local applications that aim to convert underused commercial and industrial properties into apartments across the Tampa Bay area. One nearby example is the proposed 93-unit "Lois Lofts" Live Local project in South Tampa, which highlights how developers are using the law to layer workforce housing onto nonresidential parcels.
Neighbors, planners and commissioners will be keeping an eye on how the city handles traffic, stormwater and compatibility concerns as the application works through staff review. We will track official filings and permit records and update when the city posts detailed application materials or Epoch releases a construction timetable.
