A true renaissance is taking place in the burned-out shell of a former church and the result will be a new center for the arts.
By MARTY CLEAR
Published August 15, 2003
TAMPA HEIGHTS - You couldn't help but notice it as you drove up Florida Avenue. The burned-out brick church was an eyesore, just three crumbling walls and part of a charred roof. For a decade, it stood as an unfortunate centerpiece for Tampa Heights.
Today, the building is rising from the ashes. Outside, the renovated building looks much as it did when it was new nearly a century ago. Inside, the church has become the Renaissance Center for the Arts.
The man behind its rebirth is 45-year-old Tampa native Nick Cutro.
"I didn't choose this project," he said. "The project chose me. I didn't wake up one morning and say "I'm going to find a burned-out church and rebuild it.' "
The project seems to have chosen the right person. Cutro has a background in the arts and real estate development.
He also had the vision, passion and money to see the project through to this point. He hasn't earned a salary since he started the project four years ago, and for the first three years, he financed the renovation with his own savings.
"It's going to be a great thing," said Eddie Serralles, vice president of the Tampa Heights Civic Association. "We need more energy and that's going to bring a lot of energy to this neighborhood."
Cutro doesn't boast about his involvement or give specifics on the cost, estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. He'd rather talk about what the Renaissance Center for the Arts, at 2201 N Florida Ave., will do for the neighborhood, especially the children.
He named it "Renaissance" for several reasons.
"There's the rebirth of the building," he said. "Besides that, Tampa Heights is experiencing its very own renaissance. And the kids, through our after school programs, we hope will experience their own renaissance. They have all this untapped potential and we hope to awaken that."
Neighborhood kids who show a special interest or aptitude in music, drama or visual art will come to the center to study with professional painters and musicians.
"There's such a need for this," said Lisa Semeyn, the development associate for the Joe and Anne Garcia Salesian Youth Center Boys and Girls Club. "Kids need a creative atmosphere that's conducive to learning about the arts. That's what's so exciting about this."
The Salesian center is one of several programs in the neighborhood that will take advantage of the Renaissance Center's arts programs, scheduled to start this fall. The YMCA and Metropolitan Ministries, located across the street, also plan to use the center.
Neighborhood kids are already involved. This summer, they helped with the renovation and landscaping. They worked with drywall and cleared the back garden, where the center will hold horticulture classes.
The experience of helping to improve their neighborhood has proved invaluable, said Cutro, who lives in the Rocky Point area.
"These are marketable skills they're learning" he said. "But beyond that, they're going to have a vested interest in this place because they've helped create it."
But the Renaissance Center isn't just for kids.
During the day, the largest room in the building - the back part of the original church - will house a professional recording studio. It will be available to the public, with proceeds going to the center and its programs.
At night, that same room will become a performance space for music, theater and dance. It will seat about 100. Cutro also plans to host several art exhibits each year featuring the work of local artists.
"As soon as you walk into the center, you're going to be surrounded by art," he said.
And surrounded by local history.
The First Congregationalist Church was built in 1906 amid some controversy. Tampa's fire station was across the street - where it still stands - and lookouts would sit in the tower watching for smoke. Fire officials objected to the church because it was taller than their tower and blocked their view.
The church was active until 1957. The Polish-American Club took it over and remained until 1980, when the church was sold to Lighthouse Gospel Ministries.
Long past its prime, the building was repeatedly cited for code violations. It was vacant and condemned in 1990 when homeless people accidentally started the fire that gutted the building.
The church suffered another setback in 1997, when lightning struck the back wall.
"Neighbors said they heard two loud bangs," Cutro said. "The first one was the lightning. The second was the wall falling. Then there was a cloud of dust that hung there for hours."
Most of the 16,000 bricks in that wall were reclaimed and used in the renovation, he said.
Community leaders and historical organizations saved the building from demolition. In 1999, local architect William Muse bought the building and planned to rebuild it for use as commercial space.
When those plans didn't work out, Muse decided to donate the building to someone who would restore it. Cutro immediately applied.
"(Muse) remembered sitting on his front porch when he was a kid, in the '40s, listening to the bells from the church," Cutro said. "He donated it to me with one stipulation, that I would not allow it to be destroyed. If I couldn't restore it, I should give it to someone who would."
- For more information on the Renaissance Center for the Arts or to make a donation, call 221-9448.
