Here's something that doesn't happen often: a business leaving SoHo for Ybor City.
That's right. The House of Two Sisters tea room on Howard Avenue is moving to 19th Street and Eighth Avenue. It's scheduled to open May 1 in one of four historic houses called casitas the state recently restored for the Ybor City State Museum.
Debra Vallejo, one of the sisters, said the location suited the charming teahouse, which serves afternoon tea and finger sandwiches. It's across from Centennial Park, around the corner from the museum and a few steps from a streetcar stop.
THE TEAHOUSE is the first business to claim a casita. The museum plans to lease the others to cool stores and artist studios as part of ongoing efforts to get people to think of Ybor as a place to shop, not just party.
Ybor supporters turned out en masse last Friday night to celebrate the unveiling of the casitas, which in the early 1900s belonged to cigar workers and their families. Dignitaries thanked the long list of sponsors, then opened the houses to tours. Flamenco dancers celebrated on stage.
Inside the houses, members of local Italian, Cuban and Spanish clubs displayed old photos and dished out plates of yellow rice, chorizo and other Ybor fare. The aromas wafted through the rooms like memories of decades past. Men played dominoes where living rooms once stood.
"This is preservation at its best," said City Council member Mary Alvarez, who helped spearhead the project.
THE CASITAS are among 33 houses the state Department of Transportation moved and restored to make room for the widening of Interstate 4. DOT gave five houses - the four casitas and a fifth that houses the Ybor museum gift shop - to the city for the museum's use. Most of the rest were moved north of the Interstate and are being sold as private residences.
DOT spent $8-million on the project. Proceeds from the casita leases will go to the museum for exhibits and programs, said executive director Chris Harp. The hope is that they will attract more people to the museum, which draws about 50,000 visitors a year.
Steve Yturriaga and Ron De Santis of Ybor Realty Group are handling the leases and fielded plenty of inquiries at the opening party. Their phones started ringing the day the "For Rent" signs went up. Several people even asked to buy the houses to live in.
Yturriaga, who is a member of the Ybor City Development Corp., said he isn't surprised by the interest. Ybor continues to quietly gain momentum, despite its image problems and Centro Ybor's financial struggles.
Several residential projects are in the works to make Ybor a daily destination, not just a weekend one. The attraction: living among the historic brick buildings and walking to entertainment.
Yturriaga has been marketing Ybor for 1-1/2 years. Every day, it gets easier, he said.
His 36-unit Villas of Fifth Avenue at Fifth and 20th Street is nearly sold out. The nearby Ybor Village Lofts has one unit left.
Most of the owners are young, single professionals. They like the proximity to downtown and the Channel District but can't afford the steep prices. Ybor prices start under $200,000.
"It's mind boggling all of the projects going in Ybor," said Yturriaga, who plans to move to Ybor from Carrollwood this summer.
He views the casitas as another piece toward making Ybor a more diverse place to live and visit.
