Neighborhood report
Gandy/Sun Bay South: Warehouse transforms into new flea market
After storing large objects failed to pay the rent, the building's owners decided to convert the structure into a flea market.
By RON MATUS, Times Staff Writer
Published December 12, 2003
When John Lehmkuhle leased a 22,000-square-foot warehouse on Interbay Boulevard, he started thinking big.
He turned it into rental storage space for things too unwieldly to fit in garages or back yards. Like a few Gasparilla floats. And defunct Duck Tour vehicles. And one of those Twistee Treat buildings that looks like a giant ice cream cone.
But when the retired building subcontractor couldn't corral enough big items to pay rent, he dreamed up an even more ambitious Plan B: A flea market.
The South Tampa Flea Market.
"This is a big building, man," Lehmkuhle (pronounced lem-COOL) said last week. "We got to pay for it one way or another."
The flea market will be the only one in Tampa south of Hillsborough Avenue.
Lehmkuhle, 46, said he and his girlfriend, Siobhan Magee, hope to open it by Christmas. Last week, saws whined as workers built booths for about 100 vendors. Hand-painted signs promised food, drink and live music.
The warehouse is on the south side of Interbay Boulevard, a few blocks west of Dale Mabry Highway. A company once built boats there.
Lehmkuhle began renting the space in November 2002 to store his 31-foot racing boat, which city code inspectors said was too big for his yard in Ballast Point. The notion of renting the place to other people followed. So did the idea of selling Christmas trees.
A few months ago, Lehmkuhle and Magee decided the time was right for a flea market in South Tampa. The closest ones are on E Hillsborough Avenue and at Nebraska and Fowler avenues.
The math was right, too.
Vendor stalls can generate $200 to $300 a month in rent, said Lehmkuhle, who will manage the flea market for property owner Louis Betz.
More than 80 vendors have already signed up, promising everything from coins and computers to doughnuts and fresh produce. Lehmkuhle envisions a haven for hagglers.
"I want to hear deals thrown around," he said. "I want to hear vendors talking trash."
About a decade ago, other entrepreneurs started a flea market in the same area, near MacDill Federal Credit Union on Dale Mabry, said Al Steenson, president of the Gandy Civic Association.
That one didn't last long, but given the abundance of garage sales in South Tampa, a new one will "probably go over very well," he said.
Market hours are expected to be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, but nights are possible later. For information, call Lehmkuhle at 727-1661.
- Ron Matus can be reached at 226-3405 or matus@sptimes.com
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