Cedric McCray, Director, Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency

July 2026 — Invest: spoke with Cedric McCray, director of the Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), about how redevelopment districts are balancing growth with affordability, reinvestment, and quality-of-life projects across Tampa. “We’re actively engaged and looking for opportunities to support affordable housing,” McCray said.

What changes over the past year have most impacted the city and the Tampa CRA, and in what ways?

Affordable housing has been a tremendous focus, particularly for our Community Redevelopment Agency board, which is essentially the City Council when they are wearing that hat. A couple of years ago, our agency allocated about 30% of our TIF allocation toward affordable housing initiatives.

We have four or five different programs tied to infill housing, housing rehabilitation, down payment assistance, and related efforts. We’re actively engaged and looking for opportunities to support affordable housing, and that has also been a priority for the mayor and her administration.

We’ve invested a significant amount of funding, particularly in a couple of CRAs. East Tampa is a good example. We spent about $2.1 million last year on down payment assistance and housing rehabilitation, and then roughly another $1.7 million in rehabilitation and down payment assistance. Overall, things are moving very well.

What recent initiatives or redevelopment projects are you most excited about, and what impact are you already seeing in investment and business activity?

We have made updates to our commercial interior and exterior grant programs as part of a reorganization that started a couple of years ago. We’ve worked to systematically improve upon the grants we had for commercial business owners.

On the interior side, the goal is to help properties get up to code, including ADA compliance issues, plumbing, and similar improvements. We’re hoping that support encourages businesses to move into, and invest in, a community redevelopment area, because we can help offset some of the upfront costs.

On the exterior side, it can include windows, doors, paint, awnings, sidewalks, and potentially parking. The goal is to help beautify the area, and even if a business is not there long term, investment into the structure can strengthen the property value and, ultimately, the tax base that supports TIF.

From your perspective, what makes Tampa an ideal place for businesses, entrepreneurs, and developers today?

Tampa continues to attract attention, and the city brings in larger conferences and conventions. As people visit, explore the city, and share that experience with others, it encourages more individuals to come see what Tampa has to offer.

The Riverwalk, the urban core amenities, and the overall feel of the city make a strong impression, and the weather is also an attractive factor. That combination draws individuals here, including people interested in entrepreneurial investment, whether in tech, education, or other sectors. A lot of people have their eyes on Tampa and the broader Tampa Bay region.

What trends in urban development, business growth, and mixed-use development are influencing the region today?

We’re seeing interest across several areas. I mentioned the restructuring of our grants, and we also offer special project grants at a higher amount. When projects are over a half million dollars or more and need infrastructure work, we can potentially help support it, whether it’s stormwater improvements, piping, or other needs.

The urban core has received a lot of attention in Tampa over the last 10 to 15 years. You can see the level of investment the city has made in that core, and I expect that trend will continue.

Looking ahead, I expect future development to continue expanding east of the Channel District and Water Street area and into Ybor City. There has been property acquisition activity, including the old Sheriff’s Department site in Ybor City. In five to 10 years, that area is going to look totally different than it does today.

With that growth comes pressure. What are the biggest challenges facing Tampa right now?

Affordability is the biggest challenge, especially with the price of everything going up. If you look at any brick-and-mortar construction, the price points have increased significantly since COVID.

Between supply costs and broader cost pressures, it’s more difficult to offset or subsidize costs for developers when they are seeking assistance from the Community Redevelopment Agency, the City of Tampa, or state partners. It makes it much more challenging to keep projects feasible while still maintaining affordability, particularly in housing.

How are you ensuring long-term residents and community stakeholders remain central to redevelopment and benefit from the districts’ growth?

The Tampa CRA has eight community advisory committees. Those committees include individuals appointed at large and ex-officio members, along with representatives from nonprofits, neighborhood associations, business owners, and others who are involved in the community.

We hold monthly meetings where we share information and updates. When applications come through, the committees can make recommendations that then go to the CRA board. The board leans on those comments and recommendations as part of the decision-making process before approving funding.

That process can apply to major infrastructure projects, housing subsidies, and support for cultural and arts institutions. For example, the Straz Center, the Tampa Museum of Art, the Tampa Theatre, and the aquarium receive funding from the Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency, specifically through the Downtown CRA, to help rehabilitate their structures.

Some of these buildings are older. The Tampa Theatre will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in October 2026, and they are doing infrastructure and improvement work to ensure those institutions remain strong community assets. That’s an example of the partnership between the CRA board and the community advisory committees, and how those committees help inform where funds go across the city.

Looking ahead two to three years, what are your top goals and priorities for the Tampa CRA?

We have various projects across our CRAs that we’re honing in on. Some of those are residential developments. We’ve acquired a certain amount of property in various areas, primarily East and West Tampa, for future development.

Our next step is to get requests for proposals out, receive responses, go through a developer selection process, and then work with partners to execute projects that make sense for those communities. We also have commercial projects we’re evaluating, particularly in East Tampa along key corridors.

I also want to highlight the legislative environment. Around this time last year, there was significant discussion about eliminating CRAs. From what we’ve heard, the focus is not necessarily on CRAs now, but there has been a lot of conversation related to property taxes, including eliminating property taxes or increasing the property tax exemption.

If something like that happens, it could reduce the funding that municipalities rely on, and it could affect the amount we collect through TIF to reinvest into community redevelopment areas. It could also affect basic services for residents, including infrastructure and other core city functions. I’m hopeful decision-makers will take a thoughtful approach and keep things stable.

Even with that uncertainty, we do have projects across our CRAs that we expect to break ground on later this year or early in 2027. The priority is getting things done that residents can be proud of, and ensuring the community advisory committees that volunteer their time see their effort translate into real outcomes.

Is there anything you would like to add before we wrap up?

We’re looking forward to doing a multitude of things across all the CRAs. We have growth, development, and ribbon cuttings coming up on urban core projects, and we’ll also be expanding that work in the next year. We hope these projects have a meaningful impact on quality of life for residents in those neighborhoods, whether it’s housing rehabilitation, parks, facilities, or broader placemaking work along key corridors.