One of Tampa’s best-known restaurants is now part of a court fight over a $100 million flood project—and the prospect of years of construction along South Howard Avenue.
Bern’s Steak House and other property owners filed two lawsuits challenging the city’s South Howard Flood Relief Project, according to FOX 13’s October 9 reporting, updated October 10. The plaintiffs are seeking to stop construction while their disputes are resolved.
The project connects two deeply local concerns: protecting homes from flooding and keeping a busy restaurant corridor functioning during major underground work.
Why the city wants to dig up South Howard
The drainage improvements would install large box culverts beneath South Howard and West Swann avenues, serving Parkland Estates and Palma Ceia Pines. Tampa’s capital-project listing places the estimated cost at approximately $100.4 million and lists a planned March 2027 start and December 2030 finish.
Those dates are planning estimates. They give residents a sense of the project’s scale, rather than a street-by-street closure schedule.
The city has also released a before-and-after engineering simulation explaining its case for the work. The model uses a storm dropping 5.3 inches of rain over eight hours. Under existing conditions, it shows at least 96 structures flooding and drainage taking more than 12 hours.
With the project in place, the city says the simulation eliminates structural flooding in both neighborhoods and allows remaining surface flooding to drain earlier. These are modeled results for the specified storm, not a guarantee for every future hurricane or downpour.
What the property owners are challenging
According to FOX 13, the complaints challenge stormwater funding, contracting, and underground property rights. The city declined comment on pending litigation. The allegations remain matters for the court to decide.
Bern’s lists its address as 1208 South Howard Avenue, placing the restaurant directly on the corridor at the center of the debate.
What SoHo residents should watch next
A request to halt construction does not itself establish that the project has been stopped. Residents should watch for an actual court order, revised city timelines, and detailed access plans for homes and businesses.
For a homeowner who has dealt with floodwater, the promised drainage benefits are consequential. For someone operating or visiting a South Howard business, the duration and sequencing of construction matter just as much.
The practical questions are specific: how will customers reach businesses, which sections will be worked on first, and how will emergency access be maintained? The city’s published project information and future construction notices will be important sources for those answers.
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File photograph: downtown Tampa and the Hillsborough River, not the South Howard project site. Photo: Anita Denunzio / Unsplash.
