Commercial and residential spaces would rise together on Main Street in Thomas George's plan.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published August 30, 2003
DUNEDIN - A local developer is working to close a commercial gap on Main Street with construction of a condominium and retail complex in the parking lot of the Ocean Optics building.
Thomas George, president of Prelude Construction, is planning to build an L-shaped strip center with shops and restaurants facing Main Street and the Pinellas Trail. The center would mix commercial space with luxury apartments.
George did not return calls for comment. And details of the strip center are sketchy.
"It's extremely preliminary, so there isn't any nice, warm, fuzzy graphic to look at," said Bob Ironsmith, the city's economic development director. "It's definitely mixed-use. It's in a key location - right in the heart of downtown."
George was responsible for Liberty Square, a $2.5-million office, retail and restaurant project on Douglas Avenue. He is also the developer working on Wellington Place, two and three bedroom townhomes on Skinner Boulevard. He bought the front parking lot of Ocean Optics from Blanton Realty in March.
The strip center is expected to help make downtown Dunedin more cohesive. The line of shops and restaurants on Main Street is interrupted by the Ocean Optics building and Pioneer Park on the north side and First United Methodist Church of Dunedin on the south side.
"If anything is constructed in the parking lot it kind of continues the flow of that retail feel," said Lynn Wargo, president and CEO of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce. "That could be a very positive thing in keeping the flow of pedestrian traffic."
Leeward Bean, director of sales for Ocean Optics, which specializes in fiber optics systems, said he has no problem with the proposed center. The company has only about 40 employees and they park in the back of the building.
Ocean Optics sold the 28,000-square-foot building two years ago to Blanton Realty and is leasing it back to improve its borrowing power. As part of the lease, the company has restricted parking in the back lot.
"It really affects the city of Dunedin more than it does us," Bean said about the center. "We don't need all the parking spaces. Most of the front parking spaces are used by people who come to visit downtown Dunedin anyway."
Ironsmith said mixed-use buildings are becoming more popular in Pinellas County. There is a mixed-use meld of townhomes nestled among downtown shops in Dunedin.
Other Pinellas County cities with mixed-use buildings are Oldsmar and Safety Harbor. Rampart Square recently opened on State Street as part of Oldsmar's efforts to redevelop downtown. The two buildings mix ground-floor commercial space with second-floor apartments.
And Safety Harbor commissioners approved earlier this year a 65-foot, $20-million mixed-use complex that includes four buildings, one of which would have office and retail space and a restaurant. Two of the buildings would have 18 condominium units, and another six retail shops and six two-story townhomes.
"It's definitely unique here in Dunedin and in Pinellas County in general," Ironsmith said. "You can utilize the trail. You don't have to rely so much on a car."
