Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
SHARON L. BONDThe economic engine of St. Petersburg is humming, but a powwow talks about how to keep them coming.
ST. PETERSBURG - Anita Stelljes lived in the Tyrone area before there was a Tyrone Square Mall.
"Before the mall was built, that was just woods over there, and there was a trailer park. We thought the mall was great. I guess I haven't changed my mind about that," said Stelljes, who is 71.
She shops mostly at Dillard's, Burdines, the Hallmark card shop and at Sears when she needs paint. For her, the smaller shops are geared too much toward the young.
Stelljes was one of a number of residents who met with city officials recently to talk about the future of the Tyrone area.
Tyrone is not just the mall, though the mall definitely is the biggest shopping center in the general area of 22nd Avenue N, 66th Street N and Tyrone Boulevard. Also there are Crossroads Shopping Center, Crosswinds Shopping Center, Tyrone Crossings, Gaslight Square and Marketplace Shopping Center.
They combine to produce the retail downtown of St. Petersburg.
"It's all we have to keep the dollars here in St. Petersburg. It is the single most important economic engine in St. Petersburg," said John R. Hixenbaugh, the city's zoning official. By his own admission, he is fixated on the Tyrone area. He would like to see changes in a lot of places to improve looks and access.
At the gathering about Tyrone, some participants talked about uniform signs or maybe a monument like a clock tower to make the area more like a neighborhood. A few said, tear the mall down.
"We live in Florida. I'd like to be able to feel like I'm walking down the block to shop as opposed to feeling I'm in this closed-off environment," said Linda Osmundson. She does not live in the area but was one of several participants from other parts of the city who talked about Tyrone's future.
While Tyrone Square is doing well, changes at other Pinellas retail centers could affect it.
Clearwater Mall, a traditional regional mall like Tyrone Square, fell on hard times and recently was torn down and rebuilt as a power center. Discussions are under way in Pinellas Park about what to do with ParkSide, also built as a regional mall.
Crossroads Shopping Center is just finishing a retooling. A redevelopment brought Home Depot to the center as an anchor. An empty Montgomery Ward was torn down for the Home Depot, which built a dressier version of its big box home improvement stores. Instead of having a bare side of the store face 66th Street N, Home Depot built a line of small shops along that side that will have boutique retailers and smaller restaurants. The parking lot was reworked to make it easier to get around, and landscaping was redone.
Before it was revamped, Crossroads was shabby. Now it sparkles.
The city gets a shot at these privately owned shopping centers when developers decide to redo them and must follow updated city codes.
Tyrone Square Mall, built in 1972, had a $10-million facelift in 1998 that expanded the food court, added a Borders bookstore and redecorated some of the stores.
Hixenbaugh thinks the mall is at a turning point. He thinks it must change in order to compete with the likes of International Plaza and Westfield Shoppingtown Citrus Park.
"People don't realize how much money we have in St. Petersburg," Hixenbaugh said. "If they live on the other side of Interstate 275 (from the mall), they jump on 275 and go across the bay."
Many shoppers who live east of I-275 consider it easier to go to International Plaza in Tampa than drive out First Avenue N or 22nd Avenue N to Tyrone. While those avenues are major thoroughfares, they are not interstates. And they carry a lot of traffic.
Traffic is such in the Tyrone area that Stelljes drives to the mall even though she lives only a couple of blocks away.
"I wouldn't try crossing Tyrone Boulevard," she said.
Traffic is heavy enough that one afternoon last week it was difficult to get back on Tyrone Boulevard from Barnes & Noble or to get out of Crosswinds Shopping Center, where Bed Bath & Beyond is, back on to 66th Street.
Changes likely will occur at Tyrone Square Mall next year, according to Lita Sargent, mall manager. She will not disclose what owner Simon Property Group has in mind. She has been involved with the mall for 16 years.
"We have continued to grow and prosper over the years, and we see an opportunity for additional growth and strengthening in our future," Sargent said.
"The northwest part of St. Petersburg has developed into a true retail hub. Tyrone Square serves as the heart of that hub."
One problem with the mall and other parts of St. Petersburg is excess parking, says Hixenbaugh.
"There is too much parking in this town that we should be putting stuff onto," he said.
The city is rewriting its land use regulations, and Hixenbaugh hopes parking requirements will be changed to a sliding scale instead of a number determined by total square feet. That way, a large complex such as Tyrone Square wouldn't end up with spaces required by the square feet devoted to storage and infrastructure, for example.
Asked what he would do with the mall, Hixenbaugh said he would put JCPenney in the Burdines space and then blow out the northwest end of the mall. There he would build a bigger Burdines, and perhaps a free-standing movie theater. He would like to see the Pinellas Trail diverted so that it runs closer to the mall. A string of smaller shops close to the trail could bring in trail users.