Everybody's business
New Crabby Bill's now at Radisson
A vacant building on Dale Mabry will become a used car division. There's a real family feel at the offices of a new title firm.
By MICHAEL CANNING
Published April 23, 2004
CAUSEWAY GETTING CRABBY: One of Pinellas County's most enduring names in seafood has opened a location at the Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel, 7700 Courtney Campbell Parkway.
Crabby Bill's Beach Club quietly opened April 5, at the former Damon's site. Not only is this the first franchise in the Crabby Bill's chain, but it's also the first with the words "Beach Club" tacked on. They're not just words. The restaurant fronts the hotel's private 1-acre beach.
Rick Norberg, assistant hotel manager for the Radisson Bay Harbor, said a 3,000-square-foot patio with outdoor bar and live music six nights a week will be added by May 1, along with cabana and personal watercraft rentals on the beach.
Standing sentinel over the patio will be a 28-foot lighthouse. Its old Florida design - wood frame, cooper roof - will complement the interior's Key West fishing village motif.
The lighthouse won't be faux decor, either. Norberg said it will have a working light that can be seen for 12 miles. And before you start citing FAA regulations, Norberg said the side of the light bulb that faces nearby Tampa International Airport will be frosted.
In a nod to Damon's sports bar legacy, the restaurant's 3,500-square-foot interior has seven screens. Another eight are on the way.
Menu additions also will set this Crabby Bill's location apart from its nine siblings. Steaks, pot roast and prime rib are making their first Crabby Bill's appearance, mainly because the restaurant is at a hotel, Norberg said.
Bill and Dolores Loder opened the original Crabby Bill's in 1975 in Indian Rocks Beach. There are five other Pinellas locations, plus ones in Kissimmee, Key West and Tampa Palms. The Loders own all of them. The Radisson Bay Harbor hotel owns the newest one.
CHICKEN SANDWICHES OR USED CARS? Scott Ulm admits the sign was up for a long time. Like three years.
"Future expansion for Jerry Ulm Dodge," said the sign on a vacant building next to his family's car dealership at the southwest corner of Columbus Drive and Dale Mabry Highway.
When the Ulms bought the building and land, they didn't know what they were going to do with it, he said.
"I wanted a Chick-fil-A but nobody would go along with that," Ulm quipped.
Well, the Ulms have decided to stick with selling cars and plan to convert the former Gold and Diamond Source into Jerry Ulm Pre-Owned. The $2.5-million expansion will give the used car inventory at Jerry Ulm Dodge more room, adding nearly an acre to the dealership's 5 acres.
The 4,000-square-foot jewelry store has been gutted and will be renovated into sales offices for the used car branch of the business.
"We're really looking forward to having it almost be a separate entity," he said.
The expansion will beautify the dealership's frontage on Dale Mabry, Ulm said. The company plans to plant palm trees and shrubbery along the property's edge. They've already removed an eyesore: a giant billboard that stood between the two properties.
Ulm said the city was glad to see it go, and so was he. It recently had a 98 Rock ad with Ozzy Osbourne cursing.
Jerry Ulm Pre-Owned's grand opening tentatively is planned for June.
FAMILY NOT JUST IN THE TITLE: Olga Otte has been in the real estate title business for six years. "I've seen people treated pretty poorly at times," she said.
After working for other companies, Otte wants to do it her way. On Monday, she's scheduled to open Family Title of Tampa Bay at 3406 S Dale Mabry Highway, a few blocks south of Bay to Bay Boulevard.
The business is family-owned; Otte's father Moises Suarez is a co-owner. Otte wants her customers to "feel like they're family. Give them extra time, not just run them through the process."
Otte and her daughter Danielle Miller will run the office, but Otte hopes to add employees in the future. The women, who speak Spanish, will offer title closing services for mortgages and mortgage refinances, plus title insurance.
- Do you know something that should be everybody's business? Call 226-3394, or e-mail mikecanning@hotmail.com
[Last modified April 22, 2004, 12:45:18]
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