Motel might make way for more parking for park

City officials hope to buy the 12-unit motel, tear it down, and use the land for a parking lot for Crest Lake Park.

By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 12, 2002

CLEARWATER -- Thirty bucks a day can rent you a room with a king-sized bed, a refrigerator, cable and free phone service at the Park Lake Motel on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard near Highland Avenue.

All that could change if Clearwater officials approve purchasing the green and yellow, 12-room motel and nearby duplex from its owners.

The city's parks and recreation officials want to demolish the motel and turn it into a parking lot and extension of the 36-acre Crest Lake Park, which sits across the street from the motel at 1520 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd.

The city tentatively plans to spend $490,000 on the land and buildings. The deal needs to be approved by the City Commission in August.

It's a bittersweet coup for Julian and Helen Weiss, who hail from Frankfurt, Germany. They bought Park Lake Motel 33 years ago and have lived in an apartment at the back of the main building since then.

Now Julian Weiss, 80, has sugar diabetes and ulcers, said Helen Weiss, 79. The Weisses' sons run their own electrical repair shops in Tampa and aren't interested in owning the motel, Weiss said.

"My husband is sick, so we cannot work it anymore," she said. "It is time to go, as they say."

All the monetary details have not yet been worked out, said city parks and recreation director Kevin Dunbar. Before Aug. 22, he'll have to come up with estimates of costs for asbestos abatement, closing fees, brokerage fees, demolition and parking lot construction for about 20 spaces, he said.

Crest Lake Park is undergoing $225,000 in improvements, Dunbar said, and the extra parking will accommodate visitors to the planned dog park, new children's playground and anticipated trailway system that will wind around the lake.

No one thought the motel would go on sale.

"We just completed a 20-year master plan," Dunbar said. "This fits right in. For us, it's a bonus to be able to do this."

It's not a boon for everybody.

Andy Williams, who stays at the Park Lake Motel and works up the street at an Eckerd drugstore, said, "Sure, they need a parking place for the park. I guess I gotta start looking for a new place now."

Both Williams and his neighbor, Mary Gibson, lament the closing of what they called the most economical motel in Clearwater.

"I hate to see it go, because it's about one of the cheapest places I've stayed," said Gibson, who works every other day at the International House of Pancakes on Clearwater Beach.

The Park Lake charged about $150 a week, tenants said, while similar places charged $215 to $300 a week.

"Helen takes real good care of you, and it's the same as an apartment," Williams said. "There's no electric bills and free cable. It's convenient."

Dunbar said it would be better for the motel's neighbors if the land becomes an extension of the park rather than a large commercial store. Nearby residents will still be buffered from the street with trees and grass, he said.

"With a built-out community, our strategy on open space is to explore property contiguous to land we already own," Dunbar said. "When we saw the "for sale' sign out front, we thought that it would be in concert with our other plans, that this would be an enhancement."

-- Adrienne Samuels can be reached at 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com.

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