Tampa Officials Will Spend $6M on Franklin Street Pedestrian Upgrades by 2029

Tampa's Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency plans to invest $6 million into transforming a one-mile stretch of Franklin Street. The work is designed to make it friendlier for people on foot.

Plans call for sidewalk improvements, fresh lighting installations, green spaces, pocket parks, and restored brickwork along this corridor.

City leaders will begin accepting bids for design work this April. Construction should wrap up by 2029.

"The first piece would be the design, and that would be looking under the ground to see the piping and what can be done," Tampa CRA director Cedric McCray said, according to Bay News 9.

This street once served as Tampa's main hub back in the 1900s. City planners want renovations to revive that energy downtown.

"I think we have the opportunity for Franklin Street to become that historic main street corridor," Kenyetta Hairston Bridges said. Hairston Bridges works for the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

The Tampa Downtown Partnership will organize meetings with business leaders and residents. Input sessions will help shape what gets built.

John Bell serves as president and CEO of Tampa Theatre. He backs these planned improvements.

"The more friendly we can make the area, the better the amenities for others, the better off we're going to be," Bell said.

Property owner David Bailey bought a building on this corridor in 2006. Back then, renting space proved tough because few people visited. Things have improved over two decades.

Bailey wants renovations to draw more visitors throughout each day. "I think we've only seen the beginning of what it can do," Bailey said. "I think we're going to see more of that vibrancy come back."