South Howard Avenue is getting rebuilt from the pipes up. On Sept. 17, Tampa City Council voted 4-3 to approve the $100.4 million South Howard Flood Relief Project. Crews will dig up the heart of SoHo to install a major stormwater system, then rebuild the street with 10-foot-wide sidewalks, buried power lines, upgraded landscaping and better lighting.

Council Chair Alan Clendenin, Lynn Hurtak, Charlie Miranda and Luis Viera voted in favor. Bill Carlson, Guido Maniscalco and Naya Young voted against.

The project targets chronic flooding along South Howard Avenue, West Swann Avenue and the nearby Parkland Estates and Palma Ceia Pines neighborhoods. The $100.4 million total includes $7.73 million for design and a $92.7 million guaranteed maximum price (GMP) for construction, under a design-build contract with Kimmins Contracting Corp.

What gets built underground

The centerpiece is a 10-foot-by-10-foot gravity box culvert. It runs along Howard Avenue between Bayshore Boulevard and Swann Avenue and ties into the AMI pond at HCA Florida South Tampa Hospital. The city's project site describes roughly 6,500 feet of underground box culvert. Tampa Bay Business & Wealth reports about 7,000 feet of total stormwater conveyance, plus roughly 11,800 feet of water main replacement and 3,200 feet of gravity sewer relocation.

The system is built to handle a five-year, eight-hour storm, about 5.3 inches of rain. City modeling presented to council in September projects:

• A roughly 95% drop in structural flooding during that design storm

• About 230 homes and businesses protected

• A drop of about 70% in a storm like Hurricane Milton

City staff have said the existing drainage system is far too small for today's level of development. Engineering studies of the area's flooding go back to 1983. Parkland Estates residents describe 2 to 3 feet of water in their streets during ordinary heavy storms.

What changes above ground

Once the drainage work is done, the city's plans call for Howard Avenue to get:

• 10-foot-wide sidewalks

• Improved pedestrian crossings and traffic calming

• Expanded street parking

• Better street lighting

• Upgraded landscaping and an expanded tree canopy

• Overhead power and communication lines moved underground, coordinated with TECO

• Permeable pavers and other green infrastructure to improve water quality

The city says the new streetscape is meant to create a safer and more enjoyable place to walk, shop and dine. Renderings also show brick accents and outdoor dining space. A certified arborist is cataloging every tree in the construction zone, and the city says it aims to replace as much of the tree canopy as possible within the project area.

Cost, funding and how the price grew

Council first budgeted $64.5 million for the project in the city's FY22 budget in 2021. By January 2026, the construction estimate had climbed to roughly $98 million. Council voted then to keep the project moving and shifted $21.5 million left over from a finished stormwater project. Clendenin cast the deciding vote. He said he had been leaning yes but "was starting to sway because of cost escalations," according to the Tampa Monitor.

The project's published funding plan includes:

• $33 million from the Stormwater Improvement Assessment

• $31.6 million in stormwater improvement bonds

• $11.9 million in redirected existing stormwater funding

• An estimated $11 million from the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority

• $10.1 million from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Resilient Florida grant program

• $3.1 million in existing stormwater bond proceeds

The city says it is still pursuing more grant money that could reduce how much it has to borrow.

Timeline and construction phasing

Utility relocation is expected to start in late 2026, with major drainage work beginning in 2027. City officials have said heavy construction will likely start after Gasparilla. Substantial completion is targeted for around September 2030, about three years and ten months in all.

Crews will work from south to north in 24 segments of 400 to 600 feet each, restoring each segment as they move on. Sections of South Howard between Swann Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard will close during construction. The project FAQ says individual driveways could be blocked for 5 to 7 weeks. During that time, the contractor will provide temporary driveways and walkways, off-site parking with 24/7 security, and a golf cart shuttle.

One permit is still outstanding. CSX has yet to approve the crossing under its railroad tracks, currently planned as a 60-inch pipe inside a 72-inch micro-tunnel.

Why it split the council and the corridor

SoHo is one of Tampa's best-known dining and nightlife districts. Business owners argued that years of street closures could push customers elsewhere for good. They warned that more than 1,000 jobs could be at risk, and some reported wedding bookings canceled ahead of construction.

"Our customers will develop new dining patterns and group business will settle into other restaurants," David Laxer of Bern's Steak House, which employs about 300 people, told council, according to Tampa Bay Business & Wealth. Shawn Routten, general manager of the Epicurean Hotel, told Bay News 9: "We understand there's a flooding issue... What we don't agree with is going down straight through family businesses."

The SoHo Business Alliance is led by general manager Steve Michelini. In June, the group sued the city over public records tied to the project, including engineering reports and analyses of alternatives. It also pitched its own plan: three underground storage vaults, one beneath the existing AMI pond, one at another pond site and one in open space in Parkland Estates. The alliance estimated the cost at $87 million.

The city rejected the vault plan. It said the vaults couldn't hold enough water for the design storm, and that the alternative route would be 35% longer, take longer to build and could require removing mature trees. "We've studied about two dozen alternatives... and we have selected the most practical," Mobility Director Brandon Campbell said.

Funding for the rest of the city was a major point of debate on council. Carlson, whose District 4 includes the corridor, argued the project could limit money for other flood relief projects over the next five years. The city responded that projects already approved will still be funded. Michelini told ABC Action News the project would take about $5 million a year of the city's stormwater funding for five or more years, leaving roughly 20 other South Tampa neighborhoods waiting. Carlson also questioned how much relief Palma Ceia Pines will actually get, saying the city was "giving false hope to people in the community."

The case for building it

Supporters framed the vote as the end of decades of study. "We have to do something sooner or later and sooner just arrived," Miranda said, according to FOX 13. Hurtak called the project "not perfect, but it really has to happen." Viera said, "We can't abandon a neighborhood... to be flooded." Clendenin argued the greatest risk was doing nothing.

The city also says the project is a necessary first step toward more relief. Phase 1 creates the downstream capacity needed before more pipes can be run into Palma Ceia Pines in a possible Phase 2. "We have to build the capacity downstream... so that if and when we decide to put in additional pipes connecting into the neighborhood, we can manage that stormwater flow," Campbell told ABC Action News. Phase 2 has been estimated at roughly $60.1 million and would come years after Phase 1 is finished.

What comes next

The city and Kimmins have put together a Business Assistance Plan. It aims to keep customer and pedestrian access open, help with deliveries and promote South Howard businesses during construction. Mayor Jane Castor has publicly promised the city will stand with South Howard businesses during the project.

Milestones to watch:

• The start of utility relocation

• The CSX permit decision

• Any legal challenge from the SoHo Business Alliance

• Whether the city lands more grant money to reduce borrowing