A pending real estate deal between the City of Tampa and a local businessman would bring an erased Black cemetery that sits under public housing apartments and two neighboring businesses one step closer to restoration. “That is going to come to fruition,” Mayor Jane Castor told 10 Investigates. Mayor Castor said the city is currently negotiating a land swap with well-known businessman, Richard Gonzmart, who owns approximately 50 percent of the land that comprises Zion Cemetery. The other land is split between a towing lot and the Tampa Housing Authority. Radar searches revealed at least 115 graves from Zion Cemetery on the Gonzmart property. Archaeologists found even more at a neighboring towing lot and the Tampa Housing Authority’s Robles Park Village Apartments after an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times. A swap would free the land so that plans for a Zion Cemetery memorial and genealogy center could move forward, while allowing Gonzmart to relocate his business to another area of the city.