Business owners on Tampa’s ‘Yellow Brick Row’ are unhappy with new paid parking

When Joshua Garman was looking to open the Hidden Springs Ale Works brewery in 2015, he visited over 30 buildings before settling on the charming artistic district known as the Yellow Brick Row.

The reasons were simple: The neighborhood’s vibe and free parking areas.

“There was no paid parking, it was a huge deal for us,” Garman told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. But now that’s changed.

“I really think this is really going to affect business for us and the neighborhood,” he added.

Garman, and other businesses on the five-block stretch of Franklin just north of Interstate-275, told CL that early this month, the City of Tampa Parking Division activated new pay-by-plate parking meters on Franklin Street.

Free parking was no longer an option for business owners, employees and patrons of businesses in the emergent district that acts like a connective tissue between downtown and Tampa Heights. According to business owners, the meters turned on Dec. 3.

Fed Revolte, City of Tampa Parking Divisions Manager, told CL the process of transitioning from free to paid parking began over three years ago and that the city has “not received pushback from the community.”

Hope Donnelly is the owner of Rialto Theatre at 1617 N Franklin St., she said there is more to Revolte’s statement.

“We pushed back heavily, but we weren’t given the opportunity,” she said. “They didn’t get negative feedback because they didn’t give anybody advance notice.”

Donnelly said business owners received an unclear message from the city, stating there would be a meeting regarding “great improvements coming up” for the community, but never clearly stating the meter installations.

“It wasn’t a very serious facade. It wasn’t super clear. We get there (meeting) and we’re being told that they’re putting in parking meters in three weeks, and there’s nothing we can do about it,” she said.

Cheong Choi opened Cafe Hey in 2007. He said he feels as if Tampa is going about the wrong way of fixing an issue.

“The problem is that a lot of people park here and just go downtown, which isn’t great for our business, but putting out the meters is, in fact, going to choke off more business,” Choi said.

Choi, whose family opened the nearby Oceanic Market in 1980, said his biggest concern is attracting and retaining new customers.

“They are coming in to spend five to $15 in here and hang out a little, they are not going to add $6 for parking. That is doubling the amount they were planning on spending,” Choi said.

Revolte said the meters were planned based on the demand and proximity of Ybor City. Parking is $2 an hour.

For employees, and to cover demand for nights and weekends, Revolte said the plan is using a recently surfaced lot in Tampa Heights where monthly parking would work on a first-come, first-serve basis. The rate will be $38.72 a month and it is located three blocks away from Franklin Street, Revolte said.

For Kate Swann, owner and educator at Florida School of Woodwork since 2009, the biggest issue will be planning around her employees and students, who are physically there from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m..

“We will now have to tell students there is an additional cost to coming here. That is going to have a detrimental impact on my business. So it is literally penalizing small businesses,” Swann said.

Donnelly at the Rialto Theatre said there is a clear difference between the city’s excitement and its administrative support when it comes to small businesses.

“I hear a lot of local politicians and council people tout on the backs of the cool neighborhoods and the small businesses,” Donnelly said. “They will attend grand openings and say they support small business…And yet, when I have faced challenges with construction services, with code, with development, I do not receive support that I would expect by the conversations in the public messages that are sent out.”

Revolte said they are actively working with business owners who shared their concerns.

Yellow Brick Row, which runs north-south between E Kay Street and Palm Avenue, is marked by its historic yellow brick, murals and industrial touches, according to the Tampa Downtown Partnership.

Cafe Hey serves its beloved menu for breakfast and lunch while often transforming into a hub for punk concerts and comedy at night. It’s long been a stronghold of creative culture and predated since-closed a since-closed food hall a few blocks north. In 2022, Mergeculture gallery spearheaded exciting “Bloom On Franklin” block parties.

The northernmost end of Yellow Brick Row will soon see construction of a more-than-six-acre mixed use development anchored by a multi-story YMCA, 200-room luxury hotel, plus retail and office space—and 1,444 parking spaces. That project won’t break ground until early-2026 and will take roughly five years to finish according to the YMCA.

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This article appears in Dec 5-11, 2024.