Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Matt Stout is a reporter for the Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin. He was following the UConn basketball team for the Final Four, and gave his blog readers some Tampa Tidbits on his Matt’s UConn Men’s Basketball Blog:

downtown Tampa seems relatively clean and safe (My hotel is about a mile away from where myself and some of the other writers grabbed dinner last night, and my walk back alone was uneventful). There are a few restaurants and bars, too, and two blocks down from the St. Pete’s Times Forum, there is an outdoor mall-like area that has stores, a Bennigans, a Thai place, a Hooters, etc. Included in there, interestingly enough, is a place called Banana Joe’s, the infamous spot of the Carolina Panther cheerleader incident a few years back.

Glad he felt safe here, but it’s sorta a bummer to read that Banana Joe’s is a notable landmark.

Nine central Tampa developments will be open this Saturday for the Urban Tour of Homes.

Discover what Urban Living is all about! For one day only, 9 of the hottest developments in Tampa will be open to the public! Take a personal tour through some of the Bay Area’s most exclusive new residences and find out why so many people are deciding to calling the city “Home.”

Urban living! It sounds very exciting, doesn’t it?

Participating Developments include Skypoint (777 N. Ashley Drive), Ventana (1238 E. Kennedy Boulevard), The Slade (119 N. 11th Street), Grand Central at Kennedy (1208 E. Kennedy Boulevard), Victory Lofts (101 S. 12th Street), West End Tampa (301 N. Rome), InTown Homes (2008 N. Albany Ave), Harbour Place City Homes (501 Knights Run Rd.), and the Towers of Channelside (445 S. 12th Street).

Five are in Channelside, and there are one each in northeast downtown, Harbour Island, West Tampa, and North Hyde Park. Neither the website nor the printable flyer include any information on parking or transportation between the developments, so (outside of Channelside) you may have to experience these non-walkable places with your own car…

Tampa I Am went last year, and St. Petersblog(spot) took photos.

According to Wikipedia, the snake oil peddler became a stock character in Western movies: a travelling "doctor" with dubious credentials, selling some medicine (such as snake oil) with boisterous marketing hype, often supported by pseudo-scientific evidence, typically bogus. To enhance sales, an accomplice in the crowd (a "shill") would often "attest" the value of the product in an effort to provoke buying enthusiasm.

The Tampa Downtown Partnership (TDP) commissioned the Downtown Tampa Workforce and Residential Study.  The Tampa Tribune’s A1 front / above the fold / lead teaser offers stats about "people living in downtown" from the recently unveiled survey, and opens the teaser with "Now that these residents are settled in…"

Fortunately, we also have the St. Pete Times, who took the time to separate the facts from the bullsh*t.  The stats quoted on the Tribune’s front page are made up of mostly people who DO NOT LIVE downtown.  In fact, less than 30% live in the core area:

Of the 212 who responded to the residential part of the study, only 63 actually live in downtown or the Channel District. The rest — 149, about two-thirds of the total — hail from Harbour Island, Hyde Park, Ybor City, Bayshore and South Howard, neighborhoods that are a far walk from downtown.

So much for Elements of Journalism at the Tribune. The TDP trots out the dung, and the Tribune serves it up on a dish.

Back in 2004, the Towers of Channelside took reservations on all 257 condo units. In August 2007, they had sold 4 of 5 retail spaces in the towers, and began closing on the condos.

Alas, by January of this year, they had only closed on 89 units, and filed for bankruptcy protection.

Tampa I Am visited on a recent home tour. He’s fairly impressed with Towers of Channelside, until he hears about all the costs:

seemed a little small, and left little room for any storage, the balconies and views were amazing. I’m not sure though that the views and wrap around balconies, large pool area, and location in the new urban residential area downtown warrant prices of over 1/2 million $$, with monthly HOA fees running around $500/month, but that’s just me.

Last month, the Trib reported that there are “about 150-200″ people living at theToC. That number means nothing.

Reporter Ben Montgomery of the St. Pete Times did a piece on a single guy living at the Towers. Montgomery’s fantastic writing gives us the impression that some dude named Johnny F lives in there all alone with a stuffed Buffalo head and his girlfriend visits once in a while.

But I’m irritated at what this article and all the others DON’T tell us. How many total sold? How many are available for sale right now? How many are being rented? Why aren’t people moving in? How much is the current asking price for these condos? How much did the ones sold pay for? How much are similar properties?

Realtors, developers, and flippers don’t want us to know these numbers, because they all feel that they have to sell a dream, instead of selling the reality. They all need to just suck it up, accept the “risk” part of the equation that they signed up for. If these condos are all they are cracked up to be, you should have no problem selling them for what they are worth.

Over a year ago, Gibraltar Development of Clearwater was looking at some land at the northern end of Ybor Channel.  The developer is now submitting plans, and Dave Pinero at Tampa Rail found some designs in the Tampa Historical Streetcar Board Meeting notes, that include references to "Streetcar Park" (page 44ish) within the "North Ybor Channel Redevelopment Project." Drawings show where the park would be, and it seems to be a good place for greenspace.

Of course, Gibraltar is also supposed to be developing Venu, too, so we’ll see how far this one gets.

The Tampa Tribune reports that the developers of Trump Tower Tampa are close to giving up the ghost. One single financing option remains, and if that fails, they are ready to walk away and sell.

You might remember when Donald Trump welcomed everyone to get in on the ground floor of the “tallest building on the Gulf Coast.” Now his name is becoming mud all over America. No matter, the Donald is looking to Puerto Rico.

As far as the downtown spot, mayor Pam Iorio has had her eyes on the riverfront property since July of last year. Look for the city to buy it and add to the Riverwalk.

According to the News Hounds, Fox News is still insinuating that the plane that crashed into the Bank of America (nee Barnett) building in downtown Tampa back in 2002 is linked to terrorism. In truth, it was a 15 year old boy who stole a plane and used it to commit suicide.

What makes a park a park?

As you know, Mayor Pam Iorio wants the area currently known as Curtis Hixon Park to be Tampa’s signature park. Iorio remains insistent in putting $15 Million into redesigning the already functioning green space.

And what do we get for $15 MILLION?

The city hired New York landscape architect Thomas Balsley to design the project.

“It’s been very carefully conceived to be a very active park,” Balsley said.

The park would be built in two phases. The first phase, which carries a $15 million price tag, would include features such as a visitors’ center, cafe kiosk, play area, dog run, fountain on Ashley and a shade trellis at a future pavilion building.

The second phase would include the glass towers, a mist fountain, the pavilion building, a garden and a restaurant. The second phase could cost an additional $5 million to $10 million.

Good grief.. why hire a guy from New York? How about giving a local guy the chance to make a signature piece? It’s easy to google tampa landscape architect. Allow a local firm to put this project on their resume, and perhaps the City of New York will one day hire a Tampa based firm.

And the 50 foot Glass Towers spelling out T.A.M.P.A? That alone will cost well over a half million. Seriously, where do you think you are?

Thankfully, some in City Council are not too impressed. Dingfelder even had a go-round with Pammy at a meeting. But Iorio was steadfast. She knows she has supporters, too.

In a Sunday Editorial ripping the City Council, the St. Pete Times says “There is no greater need downtown than a signature, functional park.” No greater need? Seriously? Not a grocery store? Not dependable mass transit? Not a single, specific vision?

And speaking of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, they chime in on their HiLife Tampa website:

Curtis Hixon Park: The City of Tampa has contracted with Thomas Balsley & Associates of New York City to redesign and develop Curtis Hixon Park into a true urban green space. Once completed the park will offer unique features that will draw people into it and connect to the Tampa Riverwalk.

Oh, come on… Do we really need another “destination” place downtown? How many things have to be built at public expense that are going to “draw people?” Remember, Downtown Tampa already draws thousands, we just want them to stay a little longer.

Downtown Tampa doesn’t need a “better” park. If you want to invigorate downtown, then the first step is to make better use of the existing amenities.

Curtis Hixon is already a nice open green space with views of the riverfront. Downtown residents already use Curtis Hixon as it is. The reason more people don’t use the park is because nothing happens there. Here’s an idea. Take some of this money, and FIX THE LIGHTS IN THE PARK. The park is downright scary after dark. Those thousands who visit the TBPAC at sundown are not going to go into the darkness of Curtis Hixon.

But that’s simply not good enough for Pammy.

You see, the Riverwalk is Pam’s Legacy. A $15 million redesigned Curtis Hixon will simply add to the extravagance of Pam’s Legacy.

I asked “What makes a park a park?” It is people, not fountains. People, not glass towers. People, not New York architecture. If you spend money on those things, people will continue to stay away in droves.

It’s time to put a stop to this nonsense. Even if downtown Tampa needs a “signature park,” it doesn’t need to be this spot, and it certainly doesn’t need to be done during this time of significant budget cutbacks.