2025 is shaping up to be another busy year for Tampa-based entrepreneur and real estate investor Chris Cunningham.
After the 2024 hurricane season wreaked havoc across the region, Cunningham’s company, Dry 24 Water Restoration LLC, provided vital services at over 100 residential and commercial properties that took water damage from Helene and Milton.
The water restoration business is just one recent venture. Looking to purchase a property for the business in 2023, he heard about an old feed store for sale in North Tampa. It was what he was looking for, with one catch. It came with an entire city block and additional buildings.
For some, that might be a dealbreaker. Cunningham saw an opportunity that appealed to his entrepreneurial spirit and fit his business background.
“It’s amazing how God works,” he says. “I’ve always loved real estate.”
While attending Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Cunningham obtained his real estate license. After graduating in 2004 with a degree in political science, he went to work with mortgage finance company HBSC, where he stayed for three years.
Looking to branch out, Cunningham purchased a Colbert/Ball Tax Service franchise, which he ran for several years before starting his own independent business, Tax Express. The workflow of a tax preparation firm suited his needs.
“I worked hard four months of the year,” he says. “In the off-season, I found ‘ugly duckling’ homes and renovated them to rent.”
Real estate is in Cunningham’s DNA. Growing up, he lived in Dayton, Ohio with his grandfather, James H. McGee, a lawyer and commercial real estate investor. He was also Dayton’s first Black mayor.
“He was a big influence on me,” Cunningham says. ”He loved business.”
Purchasing an entire block of North Tampa was an inflection point for Cunningham and his entrepreneurial goals. Referring to Dry 24 Water Restoration, he says, “I
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Dry 24 Water Restoration's property on Nebraska Avenuestarted with one van, now I have a fleet that services corporate and private customers across the region.”
The former feed store at 9513 N. Nebraska Ave. is now True Value America, a full-service hardware store and so much more. Cunningham describes it as a “full-fledged home center where you can find many items you can’t find at the big box stores, including a comprehensive line of cleaning and janitorial supplies.” In a nod to the building’s former roots, they also carry pet food, and in a double nod to the price of eggs, sell cracked corn for chickens.
There’s an old adage that only three things matter in real estate, “location, location, location.” That certainly seems to be the case with Cunningham’s property.
The sprawling USF campus and the mixed-use redevelopment taking place at the
University Mall property are nearby. Uptown Sky, a 61-unit apartment community catering to working families and individuals, opened nearby in 2023. The Adderley, a 128-apartment affordable housing complex that opened in September 2024, is across Nebraska and just up the road.
Cunningham says this area of North Tampa was a “retail desert” before True Value America opened. Now, the hardware store supplies the community and draws customers from neighborhoods like Seminole Heights.
The store has VIP customers, too. Mayor Jane Castor came to the official opening. Turns out the former feed store held many happy memories. She used to shop there when she was young. Cunningham says she is once again a customer at the location.
Cunningham sums up the reason for his success and looks to the future.
“We are following our mission statement: ‘To help and serve our customers,’” he says. “This year, I plan to start building affordable housing. I want to be a solution for the neighborhood. I want to be here for the community.”
For more information, go to Dry 24 Water Restoration
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