HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Members of the Jackson House Foundation said the renovation project is starting to pick up steam, but they worry time is ticking now that the stormy season is here.
The project plans have been in the works for years. On Thursday, the city's Development and Economic Opportunity department presented city council with a memo outlining the latest details about the renovation. The city accepted the memo, but no further discussion or decision was made. The building is a landmark rooted in black history.
Memo.travis - 062024 Regular Council Session - File No. Cm23-82265.PDF by ABC Action News on Scribd
It was built in 1901, and it was the city's only 24-room boarding house for African Americans during segregation.
“The Jackson House's importance is how you can tell the story of the state of Florida, the county of Hillsborough, and the city of Tampa," Carolyn Collins with the Jackson House Foundation said.
Collins said they are working to finalize approvals and plans so they can move forward with stabilizing the building and start restoration.
She worries about the building as we head into the stormy season.
“We are not going to tell you that this house isn't going to be in bad shape with this season coming in,” Collins said.
She acknowledges that one bad storm could destroy what is left of this historical building.
“We want to hurry up and move before the house looks like it’s going to fold in and collapse,” Collins said.
She said she wanted to start construction years ago, but because of logistics, they have had to work through funding agreements and other obstacles that come with renovating a historical building.
She said between the city, Jackson House Foundation, and the Tampa Bay History Center, they have enough funding for the project, but they need to collapse all the money and grants to be under one entity.
“It's not a holdup. It’s processes, some of which have been going on for a long time, but were further along now than we've ever been before,” Collins said.
Dennis Fernandez with the city weighed in on the importance of keeping this building in Tampa.
“We are hopeful that we can continue to learn from the past so those mistakes can be left behind and a more positive future can be charted,” Fernandez said.
Meanwhile, Collins said it is crucial that they renovate the Jackson House so it can be used to teach people for years to come.
“Despite the fact of what it looks like today, in the near future, it will look like the former Jackson House. We have an opportunity to tell our history of African Americans in Downtown Tampa,” Collins said.
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