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City Seeks To Buy Parcels In Drew Park

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA

jpatino@tampatrib.com

Published: December 10, 2008

DREW PARK - City officials plan to spend more than $400,000 to buy adjoining parcels in Drew Park that could be used for housing.

The city plans to purchase lots at 4106 and 4108 N. Hubert Ave. at a cost of $402,800. The money to buy the properties will come from the Drew Park Community Redevelopment Area fund.

The city council on Dec. 4 unanimously approved spending the money.
Drew Park is among designated Tampa neighborhoods in which a portion of property tax revenues is reinvested in the area for improvements such as roads, sidewalks and streetlights, and to buy property to meet neighborhood goals.

If properties are purchased, city officials will ask developers to suggest plans. The city would like to see residences built on the 1.3 acre lots for people with modest incomes such as police officers and teachers, said Jeanette LaRussa Fenton, the city's Drew Park and West Tampa manager.

"That is good for the neighborhood and provides something that is in demand," Fenton said.

The lots are in the southwest residential neighborhood of Drew Park, an industrial area adjacent to Tampa International Airport that also is home to adult businesses. The lots together are zoned for up to 16 residences, but the properties' configurations likely would limit development to about 12 units, Fenton said.

The city is interested in buying two other adjoining parcels in Drew Park, at 4221 N. Coolidge Avenue and 4224 N. Hubert Ave. The price of those parcels together is estimated at $90,000.
City staffers are conducting an environmental study of the lots. If they favor buying the land, the city council first must approve it.

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659.

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