South Howard's Dig Starts at Bayshore. Parkland Estates' Blocks Come Last.

"We have to do something sooner or later," Councilman Charlie Miranda said before Tampa City Council approved the South Howard Flood Relief Project on September 17, "and sooner just arrived." He was quoted by WUSF.

The vote was 4-3. Miranda, Lynn Hurtak, Luis Viera and Chair Alan Clendenin voted yes. Naya Young, Guido Maniscalco and Bill Carlson voted no. In practice, "sooner" still means the spring of 2027 at the earliest. When work does begin, it starts at the far end of South Howard. The city's stated purpose for the $100.4 million project is to relieve flooding in Parkland Estates and Palma Ceia Pines, and the plan reaches those neighborhoods last.

The order of the dig

The Tampa Bay Times reported that the work, led by Kimmins Contracting Corp., "will begin at Bayshore Boulevard and inch north toward the affected neighborhoods." The plan closes South Howard Avenue between Swann Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard in stages, according to Bay News 9. The culvert also runs under West Swann Avenue.

That route traces the neighborhood's own outline. City boundary data places Parkland Estates between West Swann Avenue on the north, West Morrison Avenue on the south, South Howard Avenue on the east and South Lincoln Avenue on the west. The project runs along both the north and east edges. It also crosses into the interior. The project's own site says new stormwater pipes "will extend into Parkland Estates" to carry water to the planned box culvert on Swann. Geotechnical test borings began on Swann in November 2025 and continued into the neighborhood.

Because the work starts at Bayshore and moves north, other drivers feel the first months more than Parkland Estates does. The project FAQ says the two southbound lanes of Bayshore Boulevard will close for about 8 to 10 weeks, with one northbound lane converted so traffic can still move both ways. Swann and the blocks of Howard alongside the neighborhood come at the end of the sequence.

The start date has moved several times already:

Across those three schedules, the finish date has moved back about 14 months. Fox 13 reported after the vote that construction is expected to begin "sometime after Gasparilla" and continue through 2030. The Times reported that city engineers expect the work to be mostly complete by September 2030. The FAQ still says "late 2026." The city's project record has the newer dates.

How a section moves down the street

The city says the street will close in small pieces, which is why the order matters. These are the rules in the FAQ and the Business Assistance Plan:

• Sections of about 400 to 600 feet, worked one at a time. Kimmins has to reopen one section to traffic before starting the next, though activities may overlap.
• Work hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, with weekend and night work only when needed.
• Driveways closed for an estimated 5 to 7 weeks where a section passes. The plan offers temporary driveways and walkways, plus an off-site parking area with 24/7 security and a golf-cart shuttle.
• Vibration sensors and pre-construction photos of buildings along the route, with existing cracks documented before work starts.
• Closure and detour notices posted on the project's Alerts page.

Tampa Bay 28 reported that the project is divided into 24 sections. If one 400-to-600-foot section has to reopen before the next begins, the barricades will usually be a few blocks long. The full stretch from Bayshore to Swann will rarely be closed all at once.

When the work is done, the city says Howard will have 10-foot-wide sidewalks, traffic calming, better crossings and street lighting, permeable pavers and new landscaping. The FAQ also lists expanded street parking. The 6,500 feet of box culvert sits under all of it.

A second project is lined up behind this one. The city's Swann Ave water main replacement would replace about 11,386 linear feet of 2- to 8-inch water mains in Parkland Estates. Its October 2026 fact sheet shows the project at 30% design, with construction in fiscal year 2028 and an estimated cost of $4,297,505. No start date or lane-closure plan has been published.

What the vote did not settle

On October 12, WUSF reported that Bern's Steak House, at 1208 S. Howard Ave., and other South Howard property owners had filed two class-action lawsuits to stop the project. One suit argues that the people who laid out the street in subdivision plats between 1902 and 1924 dedicated it for public use but never transferred the land under it. Under that argument, the city would need more property rights before digging beneath it. The other suit challenges how the project is funded through the city's stormwater improvement assessment, and how property owners were notified of changes. WUSF reported that city communications director Adam Smith said the administration does not comment on pending litigation. The filings are moving through the courts, and the March 2027 start date in the city record predates them.

Other pieces are also still undecided. The city has not said which of the 24 sections comes first, though the Times account points to the Bayshore end. The FAQ promises a public information meeting before construction starts, and no date has been set. The city also has a marketing campaign called SohOPEN, meant to remind people that South Howard businesses are open during construction, through social media and billboards. No launch date has been announced.

The corridor that keeps filling in

Many SoHo business owners opposed the plan because they expected the construction to hurt business for three or four years, WUSF reported. Even so, operators kept opening new places on South Howard throughout 2026:

• The Landon, 717 S. Howard Ave., began service in March, across the street from AVA.
• Good Luck Chuck's, 410 S. Howard Ave., opened in May in the former SoHo Saloon space.
• Howard & Platt, 301 S. Howard Ave., from Disser Hospitality, opened July 23 with dinner and weekend brunch.
• Meeting House, 901 S. Howard Ave., took over the Daily Eats space and was open by late August.
• Joe & The Juice has announced 1350 S. Howard Ave. for a 2027 opening.

All of these decisions came before the September vote. Joe & The Juice is the only one aimed at the construction years. The SoHo Saloon closure was described as a strategic property repositioning, and Daily Eats became Meeting House through a concept change. For the people living on the west side of Howard, this fall's version of the street is the fullest it has been in years, and it is the last one before construction starts.

The season on the neighborhood's own calendar

None of the closures arrive this fall or this holiday season. The Parkland Estates Civic Club has its 2026-2027 calendar set:

The City of Tampa's neighborhood page also describes the neighborhood's holiday tradition of street-side luminaries and an outdoor celebration.

A short walk east, Hyde Park has a busy few weeks. The free Hyde Park Pet Parade starts at St. John's Tampa on Saturday, October 24, from 9 a.m. to noon. Hyde Park Village's free fall art fair runs the same weekend, October 24 and 25. Holiday Happening follows on Thursday, November 19, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., with live music, a Tampa City Ballet performance, Santa and a tree lighting at 7:45.

Every route to those events stays open through the holidays. The first barricades are planned for the Bayshore end, sometime after Gasparilla, and the blocks along Swann and Howard where Parkland Estates begins are scheduled near the end of the sequence.

If you own property near the South Howard route and want help making sense of what's been filed, what's been scheduled and how a long construction timeline could affect a future sale or purchase, 360 Realty offers brokerage guidance alongside in-house legal and title support. Contact us and we'll go through it with you before the first section opens.