TAMPA, Fla. — The owner of property on the edge of a historic cemetery is planning to build new homes on the land, and cemetery activists say someone needs to stop the project.

The land sits on the edge of the Marti Colon cemetery off Columbus Drive in West Tampa. It’s about two acres of property, separated by a white fence.

Now, the land is up for sale, with plans to build homes there. 

Questions have lingered for years about whether unmarked graves could extend onto the land.

According to city officials, ground penetrating radar testing was completed on the property two years ago and it detected anomalies.

But there was never any excavation done to confirm whether those anomalies were actually human remains. So, as of now, the property owner can still move forward with development plans for the land.

For Tampa native and Cemetery Society founder Aileen Henderson, the historic burial ground represents the city’s rich history. 

“It helped make the City of Tampa the cigar capital of the world, these workers,” she said.  

Workers, history makers and generations of West Tampa families from the late 1800s and beyond are buried at the Marti Colon Cemetery. 

“These were workers of diverse ethnicities. These were workers that were Hispanic, they were Latinas, they were Black, they were Afro-Cuban,” Henderson said.

The roots of the cemetery have been debated for years. A historical marker acknowledges questions about where the burial grounds begin and end. And Henderson believes the city’s maps don’t tell the full story.

“While there may not be visible head stones, there’s a thing called unmarked graves, and we have over a thousand documented that there are no headstones or markers for them,” she said.

This property on the very edge of the cemetery, now separated by a white fence, is about two acres of land owned by a local architect who made headlines when he purchased the property in 2018.

At the time, he talked about his plans for the cemetery and his new land, along with plans to help protect neglected cemeteries.

“Oh, first thought was furious,” Henderson said about the plans to build homes there. “Overwhelmed. I get very sad when I think about it because these are the voiceless. These are the people who don’t have a voice.”

The city recently approved the portion of land to be broken up into three parcels to build on, despite public opposition and a letter from Democratic State Rep. Fentrice Driskell. 

In a letter responding to Driskell, the city acknowledged a ground penetrating radar study found anomalies on the property in 2024. However, city leaders say the property owner can move forward with construction unless human remains are discovered during the building process.

In that same letter, this was the condition for developing the site: “Condition of Approval. The property contained within BLD-26-0521364 abuts a cemetery. Through the approval permit, the applicant acknowledges that if human remains are discovered during any site work, excavation, or construction activity on said property, the applicant is required to notify the City of Tampa Building Official and subject to compliance with Section 872.05, Florida Statutes, which requires immediate cessation of any and all activity on said property.”

Henderson calls that unacceptable. 

“We’re gonna have somebody like me in 50 to 100 years saying, ‘What were you thinking,’ and then oh how wonderful the city is, they’re saving the parcel 50 to 100 years when you have the opportunity to do it now. This is a Zion cemetery all over again,” she said.

The property owner declined to comment. 

Meanwhile, Henderson says she is now pushing for more community support. The land is privately owned, but opponents of the project hope state and city leaders will step in before any development begins.

The previous owner of this land tried to build a house on the land, but those plans were stopped.

Now, if this plan goes through, the property could soon become home to several families.