An arts center in the former Kumar mansion was a grand idea until council members got the renovation estimate.
By NORA KOCH
Published January 15, 2004
OLDSMAR - Less than a year ago, the city paid $2.2-million for a bayfront mansion with the grand plan of making it a cultural arts center.
"We just want the building there," Mayor Jerry Beverland said five months before the April 2003 closing. "It's going to be a cultural arts center and that's that."
Now the council sees little choice but to pay about $40,000 to raze the unfinished 1920s hotel.
The other option is to pay up to $3.1-million for repairs and renovations.
With cost in mind, it would be more sensible to demolish the former Kumar mansion and construct a new building on the Shore Drive property, a majority of council members said at a work session Tuesday night.
Even the mayor, a longtime champion of the restoration project for its historical significance, agreed.
"The emotional part of me wants to save the first floor, renovate it to a beautiful arts center and save that part of our history," Beverland said at the session. "Would it really be practical as an arts center? Probably not."
Renovating the 80-year-old building could cost up to $3.1-million, architects for the project estimated.
To use the building, the city would need to fix major structural damage and other problems. Then it could be gutted and reconfigured as an arts center, Beverland said.
The city received a quote to demolish the building for $39,500, but the actual price would be determined after a bid process for the project.
Council members did not discuss what it might cost to replace the mansion with a building suitable for an arts center.
In April the city purchased the 5.57-acre property for $2.2-million from Roger and Lila Kumar, hoping to turn the waterfront estate into a cultural arts center.
The mansion was originally built to be Oldsmar's first hotel, but the project was abandoned after the first floor was finished.
"We have the property, and it was a good investment," council member Marcelo Caruso said. "Now we can have a fantastic building."
City leaders envision the center housing an art museum, headquarters for the historical society, a stage for small plays and classrooms for dance, piano and art classes.
Caruso, Jim Ronecker and Janice Miller all have said they would vote to demolish the structure. The council will vote on its fate at an upcoming meeting.
Fate of the mansion aside, council member Don Bohr urged his fellow council members to consider building the arts center on St. Petersburg Drive next to the library site, which he said is a more central location. He suggested turning the Kumar property into a passive waterfront garden park.
More than two dozen Oldsmar residents showed up at Tuesday's work session, with varying opinions about the fate of the property, the building and a future arts center. Residents raised concerns about building the arts center in the midst of a residential neighborhood, suggested the council try to preserve parts of the building in better condition, and pleaded that trees on the property be saved.
Neighbor Jim Campoli said he initially supported buying and renovating the property.
"But then I heard the condition of the building, and it makes more sense to tear it down," said Campoli, who has lived in Oldsmar since 1973. "We have to be practical."
