I think it's necessary to make a seperate thread for this and not flood the Encore thread with a project not related to it.
Article with some details about the project.Sorry I am not good at this, but i guess this project was related to a tampa trib article back in november.
St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Tampa is undergoing renovation. The building was dedicated in 1914.
By KATHY STEELE | The Tampa Tribune
Published: November 17, 2010
Updated: 11/17/2010 04:41 pm
TAMPA - The gothic majesty of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church is encased in scaffolding while construction crews craft the church's destiny as a community center and keeper of history.
Beside the church building, a six-story apartment building, Metro 510, will welcome its first tenants in October 2011. Nurses, teachers, police officers and restaurant workers will fill 120 "workforce" affordable apartments in the building at 506 E. Harrison St.
Rents based on income will range from $325 for a one-bedroom apartment to $829 for a three-bedroom residence. The church's façade will be preserved, and the interior remodeled for a leasing office, exercise room, community room and other apartment amenities.
"It will be the first workforce housing in the core of downtown Tampa," said Debra Koehler, president of Sage Partners, the project's development company.
But what energizes Koehler and many of the church's former congregation is the preservation of the church's legacy. Its congregation dates to 1870; construction on the Harrison Street church began in 1906 and the church was dedicated in 1914.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made one of his earliest speeches during the civil rights movement from St. Paul. Other iconic figures in black history also have graced the church's sanctuary, including baseball legend Jackie Robinson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, singer Ray Charles and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.
Bill Clinton made one of his last speeches at the church before his election as U.S. president.
"This is history that will be told and never be lost," Koehler said.
About 30 people including Mayor Pam Iorio held a groundbreaking ceremony for the project today.
Next door, Sage Partners also is renovating the 200-unit Methodist Place Apartments. The total investment in both projects is about $45 million including federal stimulus dollars. More than 500 jobs are being created.
Sage Partners was founded in 2007 and specializes in affordable, environmentally-friendly housing.
The buildings will be smoke-free inside and outside on apartment grounds.
Some of the church's pews were recycled to other churches in Tampa, Temple Terrace and Venice. Stained-glass windows are being restored. When they are replaced, they will be illuminated at night. "We truly believe in green," Koehler said. "We use sustainable materials."
The preservation of St. Paul, "one of our institutional landmarks," is another boost to downtown development, Iorio said. "Nothing makes a mayor happier than to see this here, to see people working, to see a groundbreaking," she said. "There aren't many communities still having groundbreakings."
The congregation in recent years struggled with a dwindling membership and lack of money for upkeep. Church trustee Pete Edwards said membership once topped 1,000 but had fallen to a 100 or fewer.
More than a year ago, Sage Partners stepped forward with a proposal to preserve the church and build affordable housing next to the Marion Street bus transfer station and a short distance from the Encore project which will replace Central Park Village with apartments, shops and hotels.
The bus station in the future also will be a stop for the high-speed train planned between Tampa and Orlando.
"Kids move on and things change," said Edwards. "It eventually works itself out. We're dedicated to helping the new generation coming down this way."
For Edwards that new generation includes his 6-month-old grandson, Michael Christian Edwards, who was the last baby baptized at the church. Edwards grabbed a shovel for the groundbreaking as his grandson, in a stroller, watched.
"There's a little sadness," Edwards said. "But you have to look toward the future."
Clemmons Architecture prepared this design as its submittal in an invited competition for a new 120-unit affordable rental housing complex to be located in downtown Tampa. The 1.2 acre project site is a full city block located adjacent to the city’s main bus transit terminal. On the southwest corner of the block is a 1915 church building which is a local historic landmark and is to be renovated as the common use facilities for the project including a library, computer lab, fitness center, laundry, and administrative offices.
The new eight-story complex is designed as a perimeter block building organized around a central courtyard. The lower two levels are parking with 20 residential units per floor on the upper six levels. In order to reduce construction costs and also take advantage of the sub-tropical climate the corridors are open air. The building corners have been cut away to provide natural ventilation and daylighting to the corridors and also to visually break down the mass of the structure.