TAMPA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

About this project

Monday marked a milestone for the historic Fort Hesterly Armory building in West Tampa. The building is being converted into a Jewish community center. Once complete, the 100,000-square-foot space will house a pre-school, gym and aquatic center, event and meeting space, and much more.

The sprawling space stood vacant for a decade before the JCC started construction late last year. "We had a lot of night meetings, a lot of thorny land use and zoning issues relating to this property. We were creative, we took public comment, and we always unanimously did everything we could to move this project forward," Tampa City Councilman Harry Cohen said Monday.

Already, $19.4 million has been raised for renovations. Bucs Co-Chairman Bryan Glazer, one of the key donors, is the building's new namesake. "It's my hope that on this day we'll be launching another fantastic era, this time for the armory itself, for its new use, and for the entire community," Glazer said. The JCC will also play a key role in the renaissance of downtown Tampa, serving as the western anchor bridging the Hillsborough River to Channelside. "Think about what this city will look like five years from now. It will be a different place. And it will be a different place because you believed," Mayor Bob Buckhorn said to Monday's crowd.

The Bryan Glazer Family Jewish Community Center is scheduled to open in September of 2016.