The proposed community in downtown St. Petersburg is using art to drive commerce, which is an innovative approach.
By LENNIE BENNETT
Published October 28, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - The news did not startle: plans for another residential development in the growing roster dotting the downtown landscape.
The way the announcement was framed caused the pause. The 220 condominiums, planned for a block along Central Avenue between Eighth and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets, would be a component of the primary project, a new, expanded Arts Center that would occupy a historic bank building enlarged by two new additions.
Jimmy Aviram, the developer, made it clear that he considers the Arts Center, a not-for-profit facility, the key element in the $75-million project. That's radical by development standards.
We're accustomed to declarations from municipal leaders vaunting the importance of arts districts to their downtowns. Many thump Richard Florida's best-seller, The Rise of the Creative Class, like a Bible. It touts the idea that encouraging a community of creative people to live and work in a clustered community begets economic growth better and faster than, say, adding a factory. (I'm wildly oversimplifying here, of course; read the book.) He makes a lot of sense if you look at how St. Petersburg's downtown arts scene has flourished and Tampa's and Clearwater's have not.
Like many communities before and since, St. Petersburg years ago tried to hasten such growth with a Master Plan for the downtown waterfront.
The idea was to build at one stroke a Disney-esque "village" of quaint shops, galleries, restaurants and maybe even a cool department store such as Saks Fifth Avenue, though no department store was ever remotely interested. Fortunately, the voters defeated the referendum.
In the meantime, the Florida International Museum came along and helped jump-start revitalization with a glamorous exhibition called "Treasures of the Czars."
Suddenly, downtown was hopping. Rents in many parts, especially on the western edge of downtown, were still cheap, so restaurants, shops, small galleries and studios began appearing. Florida Craftsmen Gallery and the Arts Center, not-for-profit facilities, expanded and became anchors of a strip along Central Avenue that became known as Arts Central. To the east, expensive high-rise condominiums went up along Beach Drive and sold out. All of this with private funding, each accomplished independently.
The only major public-private partnership was BayWalk, which opened several years ago, a jaunty little development with movie theaters, restaurants, shops and galleries in the city's heart, not far from the cherished waterfront parks, which benefited from a city-built parking garage.
The area northeast of the downtown had long been gentrified and out of financial reach for many of the creative types running their small businesses, but cheaper housing could still be had in other nearby neighborhoods. So as small commercial ventures inched south, north and west, they began meeting up with neighborhoods that had become somewhat blighted but now were seen as having "potential." Drive around almost any block near downtown and you see examples of the synergy that has happened fairly randomly, unlike other cities, such as Bradenton and Tampa, that are offering government-funded incentives to attract such growth.
But the Arts Center deal is something new and different. It's the first example I can think of in which a developer is linking the success of the project to the arts rather than claiming them as an attractive accessory. In committing to an active fund-raising role on behalf of the Arts Center, Aviram is giving it equal importance to the marketing of his condos.
It could be philanthropic, depending on what he actually accomplishes as a fundraiser but it is a brilliant business move. It sets this project apart from others, even some of his own, in St. Petersburg.
Leaders at the Arts Center have acknowledged privately for several years it has to expand. About half of its $2-million budget is raised through gifts and sponsorships, a percentage that is probably unsustainable. Outreach programs and exhibitions, which are expensive, could be cut, classes scaled back. But those are the elements that have made the community-based center popular. With more space for special exhibitions that would attract tourists, more facilities for studio classes, more community programming, and adequate parking (the center has virtually none at present), it can grow and, with it, so can revenues.
But what does the Arts Center bring to the development deal?
The type of people and activities that enrich a neighborhood, make it attractive to people whether they are arts devotees or not. Baseball has proven that getting crowds to a destination does not necessarily mean they will patronize anything else nearby. But the Arts Center is a different animal. People come and go all day and on many evenings. Painters finishing a class congregate for coffee. Parents dropping children off for camp often eat at close-by restaurants rather than drive home for a few hours. Visitors who come to see an exhibition usually wind up strolling down Central Avenue to check out the bazaar of shops lining it.
Last year the Arts Center welcomed about 100,000 visitors who helped bolster that stretch of town. Add more of those people to the mix and the likelihood that more and bigger amenities will follow. With several other residential developments planned along Central Avenue, the entire area is ripe for such growth with or without an arts component. But just by being there, the Arts Center could jumpstart it faster than a residential development by itself could.
It is gratifying, and, for the Arts Center folks, at least, probably a little scary to finally be considered an equal player in this urban Monopoly. But executive director Evelyn Craft and the board of trustees have explored options for a long time, never jumping into one that sounded too good to be true or making premature announcements. They have a history of caution and care in guiding the Arts Center. And Aviram has his own successful track record. Like them, I am optimistic that this will work.
