Three sizeable building projects in Treasure Island take shape, unaffected by the furor over high-rise rules.
By SHARON L. BOND
Published May 11, 2003
TREASURE ISLAND - An old hotel and apartment building on 108th Avenue fell last week to make way for a luxury condominium project. The former Texaco station at Second Street and 107th Avenue, an eyesore, is gone, and a dentist office soon will take its place.
The vacant Fisher's Variety and Hardware store is slated for redevelopment. The large store, which closed late last year after 44 years on Treasure Island, probably will be renovated to hold three or four retailers.
Those are three sizeable projects going forward despite the months-long uproar over land development regulations, proving not every development plan involves a highrise on Gulf Boulevard.
While most of the buzz in Treasure Island has revolved around whether 10-story hotels will be allowed on the beach, it's business as usual in the rest of Treasure Island, out of reach for the controversial land development regulations. The controversial rules, not yet enforced because of a court injunction, affect only the commercial strip along Gulf Boulevard.
"People think it means 10-story buildings everywhere. They don't realize it is a certain area along Gulf Boulevard," said Gail Byrne of Gail Byrne & Associates Inc. She was speaking of the land development regulations.
Byrne and her husband, Leslie Byrne, are developing the condominium project, La Bella Vita, at 212-220 108th Ave.
The project will have 15 condominiums of about 2,000 square feet each. Prices start at $629,000 and go up to $1.35-million. The three-bedroom, three-bath units will have views of Boca Ciega Bay and are almost downtown.
"There will be four levels above the garages," Gail Byrne said. "We could have done five floors."
Instead, condominiums in La Bella Vita will have ceilings that are 10 feet high.
"This is truly downtown. I think people are excited about being within walking distance to a lot of community features," Byrne said.
Six of the units already are reserved, she said.
The complex will replace the Cantwell Arms rental apartments that also were known as the Landings and a motel called Harbor Inn.
Byrne estimates it is a $7-million to $8-million project.
Rowland Family Dentistry has been in Treasure Island for five years but needs a larger, more modern facility. A new one is being built where a boarded-up Texaco station and old plumbing shop once stood. It will be the second gas station site Judy and David Rowland have renovated. Their site in Tyrone Gardens, a former Chevron station, once filled cars instead of teeth.
They "are very good locations, very visible and very accessible," said Judy Rowland. Moving to a former gas station site requires a lot of extra paperwork but not a lot of extra spending, she said.
"The state really doesn't want vacant gas stations," she said.
The Rowlands will be moving from a leased 1,600 square foot office with antiquated wiring and plumbing to 2,200 square feet of new construction. The building will have a contemporary design and should blend with the clock tower on 107th, Rowland said. She would not reveal the price of the project.
Rowland said the land use to-do did not affect their project.
"We are not going up high. It really hasn't had that much impact. The city has been very helpful. They are anxious to get rid of a boarded-up property."
Ken Brown took possession of Fisher's less than two weeks ago. It is in a strip shopping center at 113 107th Ave., near the clock tower.
"I'm going to lease it to two, three, four businesses. I painted the front and have new awnings coming," Brown said. He will put in pavers and try to dress up the property to blend with the city's beautification efforts. Fisher's is in the worn half of the shopping center. The other half looks newer and cleaner and is in the Key West style.
Storefronts need sprucing up, Brown said, adding that his renovation of Fisher's won't be done overnight.
It, the condominiums and the dentist office tie together positively for the city and community, he said.
