ST. PETERSBURG - An abandoned hotel, a source of annoyance to its north St. Petersburg neighbors for years, has a new owner and a new plan.
Harris Dobkin's Florida Group Homes has purchased the old Ramada Inn building on 54th Avenue at the Interstate 275 intersection.
"The plan is to renovate it and open it up to low-income elderly," said Dobkin, a Tarpon Springs resident who has been a health care consultant.
He said he expects the facility to be open by May, featuring one of two design alternatives that would result in 125 or 111 apartments. Most would be efficiencies with a few one-bedroom apartments scattered through the five-story building.
"We've been working with the St. Pete Housing Authority," Dobkin said.
Housing Authority officials held an initial meeting early last week with Florida Group Homes, Dobkin's company.
But no agreement has been reached, authority executive director Darrell Irions said.
The timing could be right to help the authority. It is considering rehabilitating, renovating or selling its 486-unit Graham-Rogall complex at 325 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. S, which would mean relocating at least some of the residents.
"The Florida Group Homes facility could play a vital role in the relocation process," Irions said in an e-mail.
Boley Centers for Behavioral Health Care is surveying Graham-Rogall residents to determine their needs. It's possible up to 90 families could require assisted living upon relocation, Irions said.
"This fits in well with the 100-plus units Florida Group Homes would make available," he said.
The authority would not lease the group home, but would provide Section 8 vouchers to Graham-Rogall residents interested in relocating there. Such vouchers mean that residents wouldn't pay more than 30 percent of their adjusted income for rent.
Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg city government could benefit from a new group home, officials said.
"It will be a great resource," said Tom de Yampert, manager of housing and community development.
"More and more, we're going to need those as the price of housing goes up. There's a greater demand from our seniors coming out of single-family housing, de Yampert said.
The old hotel has gone through a series of ownership changes and problems since the 1970s. Much of the time, it has been boarded. Code violations and transients using the building have prompted complaints from residents in nearby neighborhoods.
"We've done cleanup and (some) renovation," Dobkin said, adding that the project should be in full swing within a month.
He said he bought the property in a foreclosure sale. County records show the price was about $1.6-million.
A previous owner offered to sell the property to the housing authority, said board chairman Walt Smyth, once for $7.535-million and later for $5-million.
Said Irions: "We love the location of the site and would be very much interested in acquiring it, but I think the Florida Group Homes folks have made it pretty clear that it's not for sale."
Graham-Rogall, a two-building complex built in the 1970s, is on the market for $9.760-million, Smyth said. It has generated considerable interest - 392 hits on one Web site alone, Smyth said.
