Live in Belmont Heights
Fifty and a half feet above sea level, the highest ground measured anywhere in this Tampa layer, in the part of the city that has never been priced for it.
Belmont Heights is an East Tampa neighborhood of roughly the same age as Seminole Heights, on higher ground, with a completely different history. It was one of the first African American neighborhoods in the city, it held one of the largest Black communities in the bay area through the twentieth century, and its high school, Middleton, opened in 1934, closed under a federal desegregation order in 1971 and reopened in 2002. The reference point measures 50.6 feet above sea level. That is the highest figure in this set of Tampa guides, higher than Seminole Heights at 48.8 and more than forty feet above the Channel District, and it is the single fact a buyer weighing storm risk should start from. What the guide cannot tell you is exactly where the neighborhood ends: the city and Wikipedia put the southern edge at 21st Avenue, residents petitioning the city put it at Interstate 4, and the disagreement is live enough that people here have organized around it.
The highest measured ground in the city, in East Tampa
Roughly 15th Street to the west, Hillsborough Avenue to the north and 30th Street to the east. The southern edge is disputed: the city and Wikipedia use 21st Avenue, where College Hill and V.M. Ybor begin, while residents petitioning for a documented boundary use Interstate 4, several blocks further south.
Belmont Heights sits on a sand ridge in East Tampa, north of Ybor and east of the Hillsborough. It was one of the first African American neighborhoods in the city, it held one of the largest Black communities in the bay area for most of the twentieth century, and its institutions are still the ones people name: Middleton High School, which opened in 1934, closed under a federal desegregation order in 1971 and reopened in 2002; and Belmont Heights Little League, which reached the Little League World Series final in 1980 and again in 1981 with Gary Sheffield and Derek Bell on the roster.
The number that ought to change how this neighborhood is valued is 50.6 feet. That is the USGS elevation at the reference point, and it is the highest reading across this whole set of Tampa guides: above Seminole Heights at 48.8, more than forty feet above the Channel District, thirty above Hyde Park. In a metro that has spent two years repricing elevation after the largest storm surge on its record, the highest ground the city has is here in East Tampa, not in the neighborhoods that advertise it. That gap is the argument for looking, and it rests on a measurement anyone can repeat rather than on a claim about a trend.
What the elevation does not buy is the rest of it. The neighborhood sits inside the East Tampa redevelopment area, 7.5 square miles funded by tax increment, which means public money is being spent here and also that the city classified this ground as needing it. Immediately south, the College Hill Homes and Ponce de Leon Courts were demolished under a $32.5 million HOPE VI grant announced in 1997 and rebuilt across 77 acres as Belmont Heights Estates, 860 mixed-income units of which 391 are public housing. Note the name: a search for Belmont Heights will return the Estates, which are a different place, immediately south of the neighborhood people mean.
And the boundary itself is unsettled. The city and Wikipedia put the southern edge at 21st Avenue where College Hill begins. Residents petitioning the city put it at Interstate 4, several blocks further south, and they started petitioning after a proposal to rename the neighborhood, which the city says came from a now-defunct association. There are no plans to change the name. There is also no formally documented historic boundary, which is what the petition is asking for. Until there is, an address near the southern edge belongs to whichever map you are reading.
- 50.6 feet at the reference point, the highest in this set of Tampa guides. Run the USGS query again on the specific address
- Bring the elevation to the insurance quote. It is the strongest argument a house here has, and it is on a federal dataset
- Belmont Heights Estates is the HOPE VI redevelopment immediately south on the old College Hill and Ponce de Leon sites, not this neighborhood
- The southern boundary is 21st Avenue on the city's map and Interstate 4 on the residents' petition. Ask which one a listing is using
- The whole neighborhood is inside the East Tampa redevelopment area, so ask the CRA office what is funded on the specific block
- The storm damage here is wind and falling limbs rather than water, so have the roof and the trees inspected rather than the flood line
How Belmont Heights got here
- 1900sBelmont Heights is established, and becomes one of the first African American neighborhoods in Tampa.
- 1934George S. Middleton High School opens on 22nd Street as the high school for the city's Black students, and becomes the civic center of this part of East Tampa.
- 1971The school board, under a federal desegregation order, closes Middleton and disperses its students across other high schools. The building becomes a junior high.
- 1980Belmont Heights Little League reaches the Little League World Series final, and does it again in 1981. Gary Sheffield and Derek Bell come out of those teams.
- 1997HUD announces a $32.5 million HOPE VI grant to the Tampa Housing Authority to rebuild the College Hill Homes and Ponce de Leon Courts sites immediately south.
- 2002Middleton reopens as a grades nine to twelve high school, and the first phase of Belmont Heights Estates opens on 10 September across 77 acres.
- 2020sA proposal to rename the neighborhood, made by what the city calls a now-defunct association, brings residents together around a petition to have the historic boundaries documented instead.
Cyrus Greene, Rivercrest and Perry Harvey
Cyrus Greene Park and its community center on Lake Avenue is where this neighborhood actually gathers: it is where residents held the first reunion that grew out of the boundary petition. Rivercrest Park on the Hillsborough is the nearest waterfront open space, and Perry Harvey Sr. Park south-west carries the history trail on the site of the Central Avenue business district that urban renewal cleared. The neighborhood itself has street trees rather than a large park, and the canopy is uneven from block to block.
What the map does not show: the elevation that keeps water off these streets is the same ridge that gave them oaks, and a large oak over an older roof is a maintenance commitment. Budget for tree work every spring rather than after the first storm.
Elsewhere in Tampa, not Belmont Heights
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from a representative point in the neighborhood, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times. There is no rail and no streetcar here. 22nd Street is the spine that carries the bus and the drive south to Ybor, so the drive column is the honest one for most trips.
Every gym within reach
Cyrus Greene Park and its community center are the neighborhood's own provision. Rivercrest Park west on the river and Lowry Park north-west carry fields and courts, and Perry Harvey Sr. Park is the nearest paved-path park toward downtown. Organized youth sport here runs through the Little League rather than a municipal facility, which is a real difference from the rest of the city.
- The neighborhood's own gathering place, and where the reunion the petition grew into was held
- Rivercrest Park on the Hillsborough is the nearest waterfront open space
- Perry Harvey Sr. Park south-west has paths, courts and the Central Avenue history trail
- Belmont Heights Little League is the institution youth sport actually runs through here
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Cyrus Greene Park open | Park and community center on Lake Avenue, and where residents held the neighborhood reunion the boundary petition grew into. | 6–8 min |
| Rivercrest Park open | Courts, open ground and river frontage west of the neighborhood on the Hillsborough. | 6–10 min |
| Perry Harvey Sr. Park open | Paths, courts and the Central Avenue history trail, on the site of the business district urban renewal cleared. | 8–12 min |
| Lowry Park open | Playing fields on the river north-west, beside the zoo. | 8–11 min |
The free option is the ridge itself. These streets are flat enough to run and high enough that they drain, which through the wet season is worth more than it sounds.
Middleton, closed for thirty-one years and back
Middleton High School is the neighborhood's civic anchor and its longest argument. It opened on 22nd Street in 1934 for the city's Black students, closed in 1971 when the school board dispersed its students under a federal court order, and reopened in 2002 on a new campus with a science and technology focus. Memorial Middle serves part of the area to the west. No single elementary covers the whole neighborhood.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Middleton High School | Hillsborough County Public Schools | The school this neighborhood is organized around. It opened in 1934 for the city's Black students, closed in 1971 under a federal desegregation order, and reopened in 2002 on a new campus on 22nd Street with a science and technology focus. |
| Memorial Middle School | Hillsborough County Public Schools | The middle school west of the neighborhood toward Seminole Heights. Whether a given address is assigned to it depends on the block. |
| The assigned elementary | Hillsborough County Public Schools | Several elementary schools serve different parts of East Tampa and no single one covers the neighborhood. Look the specific address up in the district's own boundary tool rather than a listing. |
| Hillsborough's choice program | Hillsborough County Public Schools | Magnet, career and International Baccalaureate programs run county-wide alongside assignment. They are applications rather than catchments, and the window is the thing to put in the diary. |
| Hillsborough Community College, Ybor City campus | Hillsborough Community College | Four kilometers south down 22nd Street, and the nearest place to finish a qualification while working. |
Hillsborough County Public Schools assigns by address, so check the specific address in the district's own boundary tool rather than a listing, particularly for elementary. Magnet, career and International Baccalaureate programs run county-wide alongside assignment and are applications rather than catchments.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Highs around 22 °C and lows in the low teens: the driest, mildest stretch of the year
- Fifty feet up, the winter mornings here run a degree or two cooler than the blocks by the bay
- The best month to walk the grid and see which streets have canopy and which do not
- The Gasparilla season takes over the waterfront six kilometers south-west, and mostly leaves this side of the city alone
- Black History Month programming at the Robert W. Saunders Sr. library, which holds the local collection
- Still dry, still mild, and the easiest month to be outside all day
- Warming into the high twenties; humidity returns late in the month
- Little League season starts, which in this neighborhood is not a small thing
- Strawberry season in Plant City, thirty-five kilometers east
- Warm, still mostly dry, and the last month before the air changes
- Insurance renewals cluster before hurricane season: get quotes now, not in June
- Bring the elevation to the quote. Fifty feet is the strongest argument a house here has
- The rainy season begins, usually in the second half
- Afternoon thunderstorms become a daily fixture rather than an event
- Tampa Bay is among the most lightning-prone places in the United States
- Atlantic hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November
- Daily storms and high thirties with humidity
- What this neighborhood gets from a storm is wind and falling limbs, not water off the bay
- The hottest and one of the wettest months
- Outdoor life moves to early morning and after dark
- Canopy varies block to block here, and in July that is the difference between a street you walk and one you do not
- Peak humidity and the start of the serious part of hurricane season
- Fifty feet up, the tidal flooding that reaches South Tampa does not reach here
- Middleton goes back before the month is out, and 22nd Street changes rhythm with it
- Statistically the peak of Atlantic hurricane activity, and the month Helene came in 2024
- Binding restrictions mean you often cannot buy a new policy with a named storm in the Gulf
- Ask an inspector about the roof and the trees rather than the water line. That is what this ground gets
- The rains taper off and the humidity finally breaks
- Still hurricane season: Milton arrived in October 2024, two weeks after Helene
- Friday nights at Middleton, which is the fixture the neighborhood's calendar runs on
- Hurricane season ends on 30 November and the dry season starts
- Comfortable enough to be outside all day again
- The neighborhood association meets through the winter, and the boundary question is still on its agenda
- Warm days, cool evenings and almost no rain
- The one month of the year when the whole city is comfortable at once
- The pay-off for August
3 more photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed, via Wikimedia Commons. Filter by category.
Showing 1–3 of 3 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Belmont Heights, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Tampa library.