TAMPA, Fla. —The remaining residents living in Robles Park Village in Tampa are set to be completely moved out next month. But there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the property that’s also home to a forgotten cemetery.

Michael Randolph is one of last residents still living there.

“There is about 30 families, when you look through the complex, the greater majority has gone and left,” he said.

Plywood covered doors and windows on the units signal the empty homes. But it’s the fenced off, boarded-up apartments, outside of his bedroom window that Randolph wants people to remain focused on. He said he can’t escape that reality when he walks out of his front door, and he thinks others shouldn’t either.

“Where we’re standing right now, these are bodies all right here. Because this right here comes out to here, so it’s bodies right here,” he said.

Randolph is a member of the Zion Cemetery Preservation and Maintenance Society Board. They are tasked with the uphill battle of making sure this becomes a permanent memorial for the nearly 300 bodies buried there.

“The status is that it’s the same thing from five years ago. It’s not moving anywhere,” Randolph said.

He explained that part of that frustration is a potential land swap deal.

“Housing Authority is going after I think a $5 million grant, but the whole thing is contingent upon all these land pieces being put together. So not only is it holding up the history to show and respect the dead, but it’s also holding up the money,” said Randolph.

According to the board, Richard Gonzmart’s Columbia Restaurant Group owns 1.34 acres and Dennis Creech from Sunstate Wrecker owns .61 acres of land that are part of Zion cemetery.

So far, no deal has been reached when it comes to that land. Both owners once served on the Zion Cemetery Preservation board but resigned a year after the board was created. Spectrum Bay News 9 reached out to both for comment but never heard back.

At Robles Park, there are renderings of what the Zion memorial could look like.

It’s a possibility that Randolph said will honor the lives there and serve as a property reminder once the new Robles Park Redevelopment project is completed.

The Zion Cemetery Preservation and Maintenance Society Board is set to meet Thursday night for an update on the project. You can view the agenda by clicking here.