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East Tampa residents and preservationists urge CRA support for Sanchez Ejaya restoration; CAC recommended smaller subsidy
Summary
Public commenters and some CAC members pushed the CRA to support the historic Sanchez Ejaya building’s restoration; the CAC recommended a $250,000 two-year subsidy while applicants requested up to $5 million, and the board approved a bundle of consent items that included the project.
Speakers at the Tampa CRA meeting urged board members to support restoration of the Sanchez Ejaya (Sanchez y Haya / Sanchez e Haya) building, calling the structure historic and central to neighborhood economic revitalization. The project and the level of CRA subsidy prompted debate at the Community Advisory Committees (CACs) and during public comment.
Residents and local preservation advocates asked the board to heed CAC deliberations and prioritize projects for affordable housing and long-term community benefit. Several speakers noted the CRC’s original purpose to fight blight and urged that limited CRA funds be targeted to long-term community needs in East Tampa.
Mimi Martinez, an East Tampa resident and East Tampa CAC member, told the board the city’s CRA work faces renewed legislative pressure and that the CACs must unite to prioritize projects. “We need to focus on affordable housing,” Martinez said, and she urged funding for the Sanchez and Haya project on the grounds the applicants are established in the community and likely to deliver.
Harrison Hewitt, an East Tampa resident and business owner, asked that staff include CAC deliberations in the agenda materials and noted Florida Statute chapter 163 delegates advisory input to CACs when CRAs set priorities. Hewitt said the CAC had debated whether the Sanchez Ejaya project is properly an East Tampa project (it is located in Ybor City) and asked the board to weigh the CAC’s recorded recommendation.
Ivan Rivera, a community leader who attended the CAC meeting, said the CAC ultimately recommended a two-year subsidy of $250,000 and that some CAC members questioned awarding East Tampa funds to a Ybor City project. Several preservation advocates, including Julia Gortka Freeman of the Preservation Roundtable, urged restoration of the long-neglected building and argued CRA investment would create jobs and economic activity that benefit the neighborhood.
Other public commenters urged the board to prioritize small-scale, community-rooted investments such as home-repair grants and manufacturing job creation over large subsidies to hospitality or entertainment projects, noting the East Tampa CRA has limited remaining time and resources.
The Sanchez Ejaya item was among a package of approvals (items 10–18) the board approved by motion and vote; the packet vote passed during the meeting. The motion to approve items 10–18 was moved and seconded and carried on the board’s voice vote during the consent portion of the agenda.
Ending: Board members asked staff to respect CAC input and to provide clearer documentation of CAC recommendations in agenda packets so members and the public can assess how community advice was incorporated into CRA decisions.
