Former Dallas Cowboys and UM star wide receiver Michael Irvin will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this evening for his legacy on the football field. He’s working to develop a new one off it, by investing in his old neighborhood:

Last month he donated $100,000 to St. Thomas Aquinas for its new athletic complex. Thanks to other donations, youngsters who visit the Michael Irvin Academic Recreation Academy at Joseph C. Carter Park (where he played Pop Warner football) take dance lessons, get to work on computers and this fall will learn about the marine sciences.

“We give them an opportunity to come and get on a computer every day,” Irvin said. “My kids, they have a computer in the upstairs study, they have a computer in the downstairs study and each of them have laptops. Now these kids don’t have any of that, but they are forced to compete with my kids. And it’s unfair, but it’s real.”

In June, the Tetra Companies, a Virginia-based real estate development and management firm, announced it was partnering with Irvin to develop mixed-use housing, commercial and retail projects across the southeast. The TMI Group – which stands for Tetra Michael Irvin – has plans for Playmaker Plaza on the southwest corner of Sistrunk Boulevard and Northwest Seventh Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. The project is the early stages: none of the 84 parcels owned by 50 property owners has been purchased, but company partners Gil Holt and Frank Marley say property owners have been consulted and some have agreed to be part of the project.

TMI hopes to assemble the property by early next year in order to develop a combination of housing and retail, including a much-needed grocery store.

“How hard is it for us to get a grocery store in there?” said Irvin, who majored in Business Management Organization at UM. “I understand you want to make money, but let’s empower people and see that they go and give them a sense of self, a sense of kingliness. I’m a king and my wife’s a queen. I have a nice place to go home to, I have a great grocery store I can go to. And that self-empowerment makes you go out and bring in a king’s ransom. Now I don’t need to drive out these people, I can empower them.”

Although the city of Fort Lauderdale has not yet taken any action on the project, Commissioner Carlton Moore says he’s impressed with Irvin’s plans. “This individual could do investments anywhere,” Moore said. “He’s choosing to come home to where he grew up.”