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MICHAEL CANNINGEschewing the common Mediterranean style, a developer looks to the Virgin Islands and their Danish heritage for an architectural direction.
CHRISTIANSTED CONDOS: The name is kind of unusual, but developer Jim Smith offers no excuses. The name of his condo and townhouse project holds a special place in his heart.
Christiansted is a charming city on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands that Smith has visited. The city was founded by the Danish in 1734 and retains a lot of its old Danish colonial architecture. That style will influence the design of his pending five-story condo-townhome project on De Leon Street and Hyde Park Avenue at the foot of the Davis Islands bridge.
That's right, Danish. Which means that a new building in South Tampa won't feature the faux Mediterranean style. For that alone, Smith deserves a big tak (Danish for "thanks").
"We didn't want to do stucco. Everybody's doing stucco," said Smith, from his office in Charlotte, N.C.
Listing agent Jim Walters of Smith and Associates says Christiansted will have 20 condo units and two townhouses.
Condos will range from a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit with 1,960 square feet to a three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit with 2,285 square feet. Prices will range from $580,000 to $770,000.
The townhomes will have Bayshore Boulevard views, three bedrooms and 31/2 bathrooms.
The property, which Smith bought in July, is the former home of Farrior Ear Clinic. Construction should begin by Nov. 1, Smith said.
MORE RUGS ON BAY TO BAY: Dover Rug Co. of Hanover, Mass., opened a third location Aug. 1 at 3119 W Bay to Bay Blvd.
The company picked the location because a lot of its customers have winter homes in Florida, said Rashan Haque, co-owner of the Bay to Bay store.
The 2,000-square-foot showroom, formerly the Healing Grounds gift shop, stocks Oriental rugs from India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Turkey and Iran (or Persia in industry parlance). It also sells wall-to-wall carpeting, Haque said.
Store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday; and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. It's on the northeast corner of Esperanza Avenue and Bay to Bay.
MAIDS ON KENNEDY BOULEVARD: Sure, the street itself could use a little scrubbing, but these maids aim to polish your home.
A franchise of Maids Home Services of Omaha, Neb., is slated to open at 3636 W Kennedy Blvd. on Sept. 1. Franchise owner Tom Berry will deploy four-member crews in yellow Toyota RAV-4 SUVs.
Each team will have a bathroom cleaner, a kitchen cleaner, a duster and a vacuum person equipped with a Ghostbuster-like backpack vacuum.
Want your carpet cleaned? All four pitch in to do that. The Maids' "healthy touch program" guarantees 99.9 percent of dust is removed from your home.
Berry said the company dispatches a four-person team to finish the job quickly. "There's a lot of customers out there that don't want a maid in their home all day," he said.
Berry, who owns franchise rights for the bay area, hopes to open additional locations in North Tampa, Brandon, St. Petersburg and Clearwater. The Kennedy location will serve South Tampa.
ADVICE COMES TO HENDERSON: Psychotherapist Maura Sampson hung her shingle out at 3314 Henderson Blvd., Suite 100, on July 1. She specializes in separation, divorce and relationship issues.
She's inside the Henderson Pointe office building on the corner of Henderson and Azeele Street and can be reached at 393-7927.
Do you know something that should be everybody's business? Call 226-3382, or e-mail mikecanning@hotmail.com