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Development Planned For 22nd Street

The Eastchase project will have commercial and residential.

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By Lenora Lake, Tribune Correspondent

Published: February 25, 2008

UNIVERSITY AREA - The first combined commercial and residential development in the Main Street Project on North 22nd Street will "mirror Westchase."

Vince Bekiempis, president of Property Services of America, said Eastchase will cost about $10 million and will be built in a neo-classical style similar to that of Westchase in northwest Hillsborough County.

It will be on the west side of 22nd Street near 140th Avenue. Construction will begin after the widening of North 22nd Street is completed, which is scheduled for summer 2009.

Property Services, which has built almost 2,000 rental units since 1975 in the community west of the University of South Florida, began buying 22nd Street property about two years ago, Bekiempis said. The company recently built complexes along 131st Avenue at 15th and 19th streets.

Eastchase will have 16,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and about 50,000 square feet of rental residential space, Bekiempis said.

The $17.9 million road-widening project stretches from Bearss Avenue to University Mall. In addition to the widening of the roadway, it will include bus bays, covered bus shelters, improved lighting, on-street parking and green space.

Over During the past decade, the University Area has seen an infusion of public money for schools, a community center, a health center, a social services center and a district headquarters for the sheriff's office. It is designated as a state enterprise zone, where businesses can receive tax credits for improvements and the hiring of residents.

The Eastchase project was announced recently by Julian Garcia, executive director of the University Area Community Development Corp., at the University Area Business Association breakfast.

The nonprofit development corporation has worked with Bekiempis for nearly four years to secure the project, Garcia said.

"I think we will be a national model of how you can redevelop, but you don't drive the working people out," Garcia told about 40 association members and guests at the Feb. 20 breakfast Feb. 20 at the University Village retirement community.

Correspondent Lenora Lake can be reached at (813) 865-4851 or llake@tampatrib.com.

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