Hillsborough County seeks a Master Developer to redevelop 67-acre site in the heart of Tampa Bay's Uptown Innovation District

Hillsborough County has a historic opportunity to redevelop the 67-acre site, which surrounds the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) at 4801 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, FL 33617. While the site is commonly known as MOSI, the museum encompasses just a portion of the entire 74-acre property and the MOSI portion will not be available for development. The County will seek a visionary development partner on the balance of the site. As part of the Uptown Innovation District, proposers are asked to submit innovative and inclusive development plans with a mix of uses including hospitality, entertainment, retail, and public spaces that embrace transit and sustainable mobility. The County also hopes to see developers include economic drivers to the mix such as biosciences, life sciences, cyber security, and other advanced industries, while capitalizing on the synergy and proximity to the County's institutional partners such as USF, Moffit Cancer, VA Hospital, and Yuengling Center.


A Coveted Location
The approximately 74 acres is located on a major arterial roadway with high visibility, adjacent to the University of South Florida and connected by pedestrian bridge – just 2 miles from I-275 to the west and 3 miles from I-75 to the east.

An Exciting, Growing Community
Hillsborough County ranks 10th in the U.S. for population growth adding 27,000 new residents last year, leads the state in new STEM jobs and was ranked the No. 2 Best Community for Young Entrepreneurs (Forbes/Nerdwallet).

Meds and Eds
The redevelopment site is located in the heart of Tampa Bay’s Innovation District home to Moffitt Cancer Center, M2Gen, USF School of Medicine, James A. Haley V.A. Medical Center, Advent Health, USF Research Park, and nearly 50,000 USF students.

Ride the Wave
With plans for more than one billion dollars of investment by anchor institutions, the area is at the beginning of a sustained upcycle of redevelopment activity, offering a unique opportunity and a bright future.

The property sits within an urban area known as the Innovation District which is anchored by the University of South Florida – a preeminent research university – and is adjacent to many of Tampa Bay’s largest and most influential institutions.

  • University of South Florida
    The University of South Florida has hit an all-time high on U.S. News & World Report’s (U.S. News) annual ranking of the best colleges in America. In the new rankings USF sits at No. 42 among all public universities and No. 97 among all universities public or private. USF continues to hold the distinction of being the fastest-rising university in America, as no university in the country has risen higher in the rankings over the past 10 years than USF.

    Based on the 92 new patents secured during the 2021 calendar year, USF is 11th among American public research universities and 23rd among all universities worldwide in generating new patents. On a global scale, this is the 10th year USF has ranked in the top 25. (Source: University of South Florida rises to its highest position ever in U.S. News & World Report rankings I USF News)

  • Moffitt Cancer Center
    Moffit Cancer Center announced a 10-year, $800 million expansion project in 2016 and broke ground in June 2020 on its new $400 million 10-story inpatient surgical hospital on its McKinley campus, with a scheduled opening later in 2023. (Source: The Future of Moffitt Cancer Center Taking Shape)

    Moffitt already serves patients from 130 countries, all 50 states and every county in Florida. However, over the next 10 years, Moffitt anticipates a 65% increase in patient volumes and a 33% increase in cancer surgeries. (Source: Moffitt Celebrates Milestone in Construction of New Hospital | Moffitt)

  • AdventHealth Tampa (Florida Hospital)
    The six-story, $300 million Taneja Center for Surgery at AdventHealth opened in late 2021 on the E Fletcher campus of AdventHealth Tampa hospital. It includes 18 new operating rooms, 96 private patient rooms, an auditorium and a chapel.

  • James A. Haley Veterans Hospital
    In 2023 the construction of the $148.6 million Veterans Hospital mental healthcare facility is expected to be complete. The new 144,000-sq.-ft facility will better serve the area’s growing veteran population with their first visitors expected early 2024.

  • Uptown (former University Mall)
    RD Management, owners of the former University Mall site since 2014, has announced plans for $1 billion of investment to convert the site to a mixed-use district. The new name for the area is Rithm@Uptown derived from the word “algorithm” and is an acronym for Research, Innovation, Technology, Humanity, and Medicine in keeping with the developer’s vision for the area to be one of the world's largest mixed-use innovation centers. The USF Institute of Applied Engineering has moved into the former shopping mall and another tenant, Diamond View Studios, just opened an extended reality (XR) space that can replicate scenery from throughout the world, and beyond, as background. Meanwhile, workers are building a 373-unit student housing complex at Rithm. (Source HC website)

  • Yuengling Tampa Brewery
    The Yuengling family is near completion of The Yuengling Tampa Campus to open their "beer tourism" complex featuring a restaurant, hotel, microbrewery, and entertainment venue at 11109 N 30th St, in Tampa. The Yuengling Tampa Campus is slated to open in 2023. (Source: Tampa, FL - Yuengling)

The Tampa Bay area is among the most desirable cities in the Southeast United States. Money Magazine ranks it number nine in the US based on a robust job market, affordable property prices, international aspirations, and a thriving entertainment sector.