Michael Randolph was homeless before he moved into Robles Park Village in 2014, the same year he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
He said Tampa’s oldest remaining public housing helped him get back on his feet.
"It allowed me to turn my life around because I didn't have to worry about those high, expensive rents, so it gave me an opportunity to breathe and produce,” he said.
He moved out of the complex north of Tampa Heights late last year, ahead of its closing. He’s now in remission and the CEO of the Center for Non-Profit and Community Development.
Randolph is also on the Tampa Housing Authority's Zion Cemetery Preservation and Maintenance Society Board.
Zion Cemetery is Tampa's oldest African American burial ground, dating to 1901. Hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered on the property in 2019.
Robles Park Village, which was built in the early 1950s, is being torn down next month. Redevelopment will include a memorial and genealogy center built near the graves, which will remain.
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"It's gonna be beautiful,” Randolph said. “But more importantly, it's going to have an opportunity for people to learn about that past through the genealogical center."
The neighborhood will also have nearly triple the number of apartment units, shops and a community hub.
Randolph said the apartments will be mixed-income, which he hopes will foster connections to different businesses and increase job opportunities for residents.
I think that more people would be interested in going to the location to find out more about their history than just coming and walking through a beautifully laid-out memorial park.Jeraldine Williams
“So it gives you that opportunity for upward mobility,” Randolph said. “Right now, we are poor, so nobody can help you, but in a mixed-income neighborhood, it's going to make the kids aspire to be more.”
He said he hopes children from lower-income families will see neighbors who are doctors and lawyers.
Randolph was one of those residents who had a chance to help his neighbors.
After losing his job as a director with the West Tampa Corporation for Developing Communities, he knew how to run a business but didn’t have an outlet to do so.
While living in Robles Park Village, he led lessons on entrepreneurship and creating a business plan.
The memorial center will also offer jobs to residents.
Jeraldine Williams, who is also on the preservation board, said she wants the center to include DNA research to help people find their ancestors' graves in Zion Cemetery.
"I think that more people would be interested in going to the location to find out more about their history than just coming and walking through a beautifully laid-out memorial park," Williams said.
She learned her great-great-grandmother was buried in Zion Cemetery through family research.
Randolph said the only downside to the project is improving the area could lead to higher property values and increase the impact of gentrification on surrounding communities.
“Whenever you do redevelopment, you have that gentrification that's out there,” he said.
Robles Park Village is in Tampa City Council District 5, which was represented by Gwendolyn Henderson, who died in June.
Randolph was worried his community and the redevelopment project would be forgotten when she died.
But he said other council members invested time into the project and are planning to discuss the redevelopment during a September meeting.
