Marketed as the “Venice of the West Coast, and “Only 15 minutes from City Hall”, the Tampa Beach development joined the land-buying frenzy in the mid-1920s. At the same time, D.P. Davis was promoting his Davis Islands project across the bay.

Completing the 22nd Street Causeway (also called the Tampa Beach Causeway) opened the eastern shores of Old Tampa Bay to development, creating easy access from downtown. Tampa Beach planners spent millions of dollars on the land, two sales offices downtown, and a Mediterranean Revival administration building on the site.  Custom touring busses with open sides emblazoned with “Tampa Beach” took prospective customers to and around the property. It was all meant to bring northern dollars to the six-mile stretch of waterfront, and photos show large numbers of people flocking to the site. Architect Folger Johnson created several architectural drawings showing the lavish building plans. A large gateway to the subdivision, a school, apartments, and a massive pool and bathing pavilion were all part of the dream. There was even a large theatre called the Babylonian, surrounded by a moat, and a $3 million 300-room hotel planned for development. It all went bust.

By 1927, the land industry was in trouble. The Great Depression was teeing up, and financial concerns gripped Tampa. Davis Islands crashed, and property sold for pennies on the dollar. In 1928, notices began to appear in the “Suits Filed” and legal notices section of the Tampa Daily Times, naming Tampa Beach and some lot owners as defendants in land and construction lawsuits. The company’s custom buses were replevined (repossessed) by Mack International Motor Company that same year, and Tampa Beach went underwater.

In 1929, the American Cyanamid company bought the property and built a $1.5 million plant to manufacture phosphoric acid, nitrogen, and allied products, all used in the fertilizer industry. They selected the site due to its proximity to the harbor.  Now known as Mosaic Phosphate Company, the production of fertilizer components has continued for nearly 100 years. The phosphogypsum stack is a mildly radioactive leftover from chemical production and can be seen from miles around its Piney Point location. It was the site of a catastrophic 22,000-gallon wastewater release in 2021 after years of concern about the safety and integrity of the stacks. The environmental threat remains unsolved.  

 © Chip Weiner. All rights reserved