Tampa City Council is staring down a tightly packed Thursday morning agenda on April 2, 2026, and two big-ticket items are likely to grab the spotlight: tweaks to the high-profile Rome Yard redevelopment and a roughly $21.8 million bid to shift key Tampa Police Department operations to a Howard Avenue annex.
City staff want the council to approve J. Kokolakis Contracting’s low bid of $21,788,470 for Contract 24-C-00032. The plan is to renovate an existing warehouse at 5005 N. Howard Avenue and add about 7,367 square feet to handle police evidence storage, impound functions and forensic work. The resolution spells out the scope and would authorize the mayor to sign the agreement if council signs off, according to City of Tampa documents.
Budget Math and Timeline
Council backup shows Phase 1 of the Howard Avenue annex was budgeted at roughly $7 million. Staff are now asking to shuffle money around and cut Phase 2’s projected borrowing to about $27.17 million after the lower-than-expected construction bid. That move would drop the total revised project cost to about $34.18 million, down from earlier estimates near $48.48 million, as reported by The Tampa Monitor.
Rome Yard Payment and Water-Fee Hearing
On the finance side, another item asks council to appropriate a $585,000 initial base-rent payment from the Rome Yards developer to help fund a proposed Catholic Charities contribution to Tampa HOPE operations, according to Creative Loafing Tampa. Council will also kick off the first public hearing on proposed water and wastewater capacity fees. The city’s consultant recommends capping increases at 50 percent and phasing them in over four years starting March 1, 2027, a schedule that would push some combined fees up by about $1,100 in certain service areas by 2030, according to a City of Tampa presentation.
Because the Howard Avenue renovation tops the city’s $20 million threshold for large projects, staff are previewing it at this meeting and setting up a formal council vote for April 16, 2026. Council is also scheduled to reconvene April 9 to sit as the Community Redevelopment Agency board. The water and wastewater capacity-fee proposal will need a second public hearing and a final vote, now penciled in for May 7, 2026, as reported by The Tampa Monitor…