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BILL VARIANWith that money from the County Commission, the Tampa Bay History Center will build a museum telling tales of the area's evolution.
TAMPA - The first exhibit at the Tampa Bay History Center could very well tell its own story.
"I've been collecting it, believe me," said Roy Blount, its president and chief executive officer.
The museum has been 15 years in the works, with on-again, off-again enthusiasm from county government.
Hillsborough commissioners voted once and for all Wednesday to give the nonprofit group that will run the museum $17-million, fulfilling a pledge made six years ago. The vote should end a long-simmering and sometimes contentious debate.
In return, trustees for the History Center say they have raised $12.49-million through donations and a grant to run the museum, more than their $11-million goal. And they presented a business plan they also promised, one they said all but ensures they won't be seeking more handouts.
If all goes according to plan, the county can start selecting an architect next month.
But the museum has more history to live yet. It is not scheduled to open until February 2008 at downtown Tampa's Cotanchobee-Fort Brooke Park, located south of the St. Pete Times Forum near Channelside, overlooking Garrison Channel.
The Tampa City Council takes up its part of the bargain when it meets today. The city has pledged to provide a location for the new building.
"We've been at this for a long time," said J. Thomas Touchton, founding chairman for the History Center board of trustees. "It's very gratifying to have all of the commissioners joining us in taking the next step forward."
The county's cash contribution for designing and building the museum will come from Community Investment Tax dollars. The vote by commissioners was unanimous among those present, and even those who have been critical in the past joined in approving the decision.
Commissioner Ronda Storms was absent from the meeting room.
"Everything's in place," said Commissioner Pat Frank, a long-time skeptic of the project. "There's no reason to hold anything up."
Many of the donations are still pledges, and some come from anonymous contributors. But Frank said History Center trustees shared with her some of the names of those pledging the most sizable contributions and expressed confidence they will make good.
Also, she said, the county will hold onto the center's money, paying each expense along the way.
"If everything seems to fall apart, we still have our money," said Frank, who leaves the board next month.
Hillsborough County and Tampa have a rich history, replete with Indian battles, bootleggers, cigarmakers and hardbitten early settlers. Many ethnic groups have added to the patina.
Initially, backers planned to build the museum along Ashley Drive as part of a cultural arts district.
But last year the city moved it to Fort Brooke, a 2.47-acre parcel that was once part of a 16-square mile outpost established in 1824 during the Seminole Wars.
For years, the county's artifacts have been scattered. Some have disappeared.
Touchton began pushing in 1989 to build a central repository for Tampa Bay history, where it could be shared with residents, visitors and their children.
It took nearly 10 years for him to gain the ear of county commissioners by promising to raise $11-million in donations to run the place if the board would chip in $17-million to build it.
In 1998 a lame-duck, less-conservative board of commissioners approved the proposal just as some members were about to leave office.
Since then, it has twice survived efforts to kill it, most recently in 2001.
That year, with History Center advocates making headway on their end of the bargain, commissioners stipulated that the pledges and donations had to come from private, not public sources. Since some of their pledge money comes from the University of South Florida, that was a setback.
Opponents have said the project is too expensive and will end up costing the county more money. Some have advocated putting it in a renovated historic building, such as the Cuban Club or the abandoned former federal courthouse downtown.
Supporters countered that the bill for renovations would be too high, and it would be too difficult to retrofit the old buildings for the sort of fancy interactive amenities that people expect these days at museums.
Backers of the plan acknowledged, as did commissioners Wednesday, that only $10.49-million of their overall bankroll comes from private donors, just shy of the $11-million they pledged to raise through citizen support.
But commissioners noted they have $2-million more from a USF matching grant, and a plan to ultimately raise $20-million.
With that assurance, the board agreed to release the county's share.
"We haven't changed our story," Touchton said. "We've tried to underpromise and overdeliver."