HYDE PARK - Construction of the six-story Horizon Bay Retirement Living project at 800 W. Azeele St. is ahead of schedule, meaning the first of 136 apartments could be available by fall.

"We are ahead of schedule by a month or so," said Greg Iglehart, president of GWI Investments, Tampa, a development partner in the Horizon Bay at Hyde Park project. "So our first units delivered will likely be in November of this year, and our last units probably in the January/February timeframe."

The residential facility will offer independent- and assisted-living rental apartments, the first built in Tampa in more than 20 years, company officials said.

The 153,000-square-foot South Tampa building will include 50,000 square feet of common area for amenities such as an Internet cafe, library, two fitness centers, and a billiards and game room. There will be a movie theater, chapel and "town hall," plus a courtyard swimming pool, Iglehart said.

The building's top floors, including a fifth-floor club room, bar and lounge, will have views of downtown Tampa, the University of Tampa minarets and Tampa Bay, Iglehart said.

All apartments will have full kitchens with granite countertops, walk-in closets, ceramic tile, carpeting and 9-foot-high ceilings.

When the complex opens, perhaps in November, ground-floor units will be the first residences available, along with a model apartment, a leasing office and space for Horizon Bay property management employees. When fully operational, the facility is expected to provide 50 or more jobs.

Horizon Bay recently opened a temporary sales center in a historical home at 602 South Blvd., about a block south of the construction site.

"We've had very good response from the marketplace; a lot of interest," Iglehart said.

"I think it's a good fit," said Jack Wyatt, Old Hyde Park Neighborhood Association president. "Everybody I talk to, they say it will be good for the neighborhood. I really haven't heard anything negative," Wyatt said, adding that such facilities fill a need for seniors seeking an assisted-living facility in an established neighborhood.

The 70-foot high building on 1.92-acres near Gorrie Elementary School is no taller than nearby churches or much higher than some four-story Hyde Park condominiums, Wyatt said.

"I think those people will be great for our neighborhood," he said of future tenants of the upscale "self-contained" community. "And those people don't drive a lot, so they're perfect tenants."

That would suit operators of the neighboring Friday Morning Musicale, 809 Horatio St., a neighborhood landmark erected in 1926.

"It remains to be seen as to the traffic" the facility will generate when fully occupied, said Violet Mandese, president of the musicale and federated clubs. Parking problems arise when musicale programs occur and Gorrie Elementary is in session, she said.

"Right now, all the parking is taken," she said of on-street spaces occupied by vehicles of laborers and others on the Horizon Bay construction crew, which totals about 145 workers.

But neighborhood cooperation always has eased the limited-parking problem, including allowing the school to use the musicale's lot when performances are not scheduled, she said.

"Let's think positive," Mandese said. "Maybe some of their residents will be interested in our organization."

Horizon Bay Retirement Living is a privately owned seniors housing management company operating in 18 states, including 22 communities in Florida. The company's Tampa Bay area communities include Pinecrest Place in Largo, Horizon Bay in Lutz and Clearwater's Horizon Bay and Regency Oaks.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 259-7124.