What do the Thames, Seine, Tiber and Hillsborough rivers have in common? Strollable riverbanks in the urban core. While some of these walkways date back centuries, Tampa is just getting around to making the most of its riverfront. The nearly completed Riverwalk on the east side of the Hillsborough has grown into a popular destination in only a few years, and now it looks like it will have a counterpart: the West River Trail.
That’s the so-far unofficial name of a 1.5-mile path that’s part of Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s ambitious plan to enhance and activate public land on the west bank, hoping that the changes will woo private dollars to build housing and retail in this previously underinvested area.
At the Tampa Downtown Partnership Annual Meeting last week, the mayor introduced this transformative vision for the connected walk/pedestrian way. Less uniform and polished than the Riverwalk on the river’s east side, the trail will be at least 10 feet wide, with a natural edge and no rails, just a sloping shoreline, like Cotanchobee Park near the History Center.
Beginning at Bayshore Boulevard, at the Columbus statue and moving under the Platt Street Bridge, the walkway will meander past the tiny Tony Jannus Park, under the Brorein Bridge, pass the soon-to-be-replaced-with-condos Tampa Tribune site, under the Kennedy Bridge and alongside Plant Park, next to the University of Tampa.
Moving under the Cass Street Bridge, Tampa Prep’s portion will feature a softened shoreline with native vegetation, great for students studying the river’s ecosystem. Headmaster Kevin Plummer cites “a great partnership between the Southwest Florida Management District (SWTMD) and the school resulting in the shoreline project.”
In the 1960s, homes, businesses and the field where University of Tampa football games were played were all torn down to build the interstate, using the excuse of slum demolition. The waterfront was rebuilt and a 23-acre park was created. Richard Dattner, a nationally respected landscape architect, designed a modernist adventure playground acclaimed by the Cultural Landscape Foundation for “the pleasing simplicity” of its “biomorphic landforms.”
The design is now considered “dated” by the mayor, so Julian B. Lane Park, on Tampa Prep’s north flank, will undergo a $35.5 million facelift, with $15 million coming from the BP Oil Settlement. Plans include a boathouse and docks for the rowers, running and jogging paths, new tennis, basketball and sand volleyball courts, a performance pavilion and green spaces for concerts, a multi-use regulation-sized field for football, lacrosse and soccer and new play areas, including a splash pad, for kids. Whew!
The West River Trail then winds behind Blake High School, under the North Boulevard Bridge, past Young Middle School onward to Columbus Drive and Rick’s on the River, improving the restaurant’s current design flaw of placing its parking lot adjacent to the water.
Currently, 80 percent of the property in the area called West River is publicly owned, by either the Tampa Housing Authority (THA), the school board, the city or the county. In an extraordinary display of cooperation, they are working together to implement a master plan developed with public input.
West River is bounded by North Boulevard to the east, Rome Avenue to the west, the interstate to the south and most importantly, the Hillsborough River to the north. All the plans focus on the river, and new connections for walkers, bicyclists and cars are central to the plan. Leroy Moore, THA’s COO, calls for “land uses which embrace the river.”
Is this heady vision of townhouses and mid-rises facing the river, with new retail and parks, a good idea? Well, North Boulevard homes, Tampa’s oldest public housing, has already been demolished and the residents scattered.
Many folks who’d lived in North Boulevard homes want to move to the new mixed-price apartments when they’re completed, and they’ve been promised that an equal number of units will await their return. Using the Encore development just north of Tampa’s downtown as a template, the THA is seeking partners to invest in this very ambitious redevelopment plan.
The renderings of the proposed buildings and public spaces are typically attractive and certainly an improvement physically over the earlier apartments. Attention to quality design and construction will be key, and the retention of the graceful oak canopy will help soften the newness of this area.
Whether a development costs billions or millions, the key to its success is livability. Do people like the vibe? Is it shady? Does it feel comfortable to walk with your child or dog? Can you walk to ice cream?
If the West River redevelopment can create this sense of place, of rootedness and serenity, then it will be a miraculous transformation. It’s up to all of us to support this effort with an eye to careful design, human scale and beauty.
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 7, 2016.