Kelly Hayes
After some uncertainty, the Senate has added $500,000 for Tampa’s historic Jackson Rooming House to its latest budget offer.
Restoration funding for the historic boarding house, which was constructed in 1901, was left out of initial offers from both the House and Senate. However, the House later included full funding for the project in its bump offer to the Senate, which accepted the allocation Wednesday.
Tampa Bay area lawmakers Sen. Darryl Rouson and Rep. Dianne Hart filed the appropriation request (SF 1010, HB 3759), which sought $500,000 to continue ongoing renovations and restoration of the building. Last year, the Legislature approved the same amount of funding for the project, but it was cut in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Red Wedding” veto spree, spurred by expected revenue shortfalls due to the pandemic. The restoration began in September 2020.
The state funding would account for about a third of the cost for the continued renovations. Private donors will provide the remainder of the funding, according to the requests, including Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, who donated $1 million to the cause in November 2019.
The restoration is “critical to its survival,” according to the request. The historic building has been deteriorating rapidly over the past decade after shuttering in 1989. City officials have declared the structure unsafe and fenced it off.
The old boarding house, also on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, is one of few remaining remnants of the Jim Crow era during which African American guests were not allowed in hotels and rooming houses patronized by White customers.
The 24-room building has hosted historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday and Nat “King” Cole.
Supporters of the restoration, including the NAACP, have advocated for the project at several public meetings, according to the request. In 2015, Bracken Engineering conducted a study for the Jackson House Foundation. In April 2019, researchers from the University of South Florida conducted a 3D scan of the structure.
Recently, a private donor commissioned and completed an updated engineering study of the condition of the property, according to the request.
