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CHRISTINE DELLERTGulfport officials see the new Neighborhood Center on 49th Street S as a catalyst for growth in an underutilized area.
GULFPORT - For at least a decade the Bay Machine Co. sat empty. Weeds covered the rusted metal stamping machines that were rumored to have built pieces of the 1954 Sunshine Skyway bridge.
Concrete blocks littered the yard between 15th and 17th avenues off 49th Street. "It had basically turned into a junkyard," said Susanne Hicks, the city's principal planner.
Next week the lot at 1617 49th St. S will reopen as Gulfport's new Neighborhood Center, part of the first wave in the city's redevelopment efforts along the commercial corridor.
Palm trees have replaced the steel beams, and a tan, Mediterranean-style building stands where cluttered industrial sheds once leaned.
The 3,000-square-foot center will contain a neighborhood police station for a youth resource officer, offices for the public works director, an administrative assistant and the streets director, and a community meeting hall. The city also hopes to move its garbage trucks to a parking lot behind the center, away from the residential neighborhoods near City Hall.
The building and the land cost $672,500, Hicks said. Community Development Block Grants paid $400,000.
"The idea is that a neighborhood center would be a focal point," Hicks said. "We have a good bit of interest on 49th Street. A lot of the businesses there have been underutilized or vacant for a long time."
The city began purchasing land from Bay Machine and surrounding property owners in 2000. Three years later, it had acquired 3 acres. City officials broke ground in October.
The dedication of the building is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, with tours of the building for the mayor and City Council. City employees move in Tuesday.
During the summer, city officials expect the center to be open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Jim O'Reilly, director of leisure services, said he is seeking community organizations - neighborhood associations, senior exercise classes and adult evening education - to use the new meeting room. "Hopefully by September we'll be up and running," he said.
Wedged between a lawn service company and the American Czechoslovakian Hall, the Neighborhood Center looks out of place among the meat markets and vacant strip malls of industrial 49th Street, Hicks said. But she hopes that won't always be the case.
Last summer, the city completed a portion of its streetscape project from Tangerine Avenue two blocks south to 20th Avenue. Hicks said the city eventually wants to extend the landscaping and new sidewalks from Gulfport Boulevard to Seventh Avenue S, in addition to paving a pedestrian jogging trail on the Tangerine Greenway.
But she said they probably will have to hold off any construction until grants become available again from the Department of Transportation.
About $60,000 has been budgeted next year for continued design of the redevelopment project.
City officials also say they are relying on business owners to spruce up the neighborhood. A number of private investors have bought property along 49th Street to renovate it, Hicks said.
Gary Adams, who opened his used car sales business last week at 1317 49th St. S, said he purchased the lot in November and spent about $20,000 demolishing sheds and repainting an old cabinet shop.
"Even though it's sort of a depressed area, there's a lot of good quality business coming into the area," Adams said.