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What's Brewing

Is SoHo changing for good?

By SUSAN THURSTON
Published March 18, 2005

The wrecking ball returned to S Howard Avenue last week, this time to claim Mac's Sports Pub.

The short-lived but well-received watering hole had become a favorite among the young, sports-loving bar crowd, many of them spillovers from the former Chatterbox up the street.

Mac's demolition marked the end of a commercial era for the site at Howard and Bristol Street, formerly home to Tuscan Oven and McHale's Chophouse. In its place will rise the Brownstones of SoHo, a 42-unit townhouse project developed by Jason and Arthur Woods of Statewide Associates in Tampa.

Construction is expected to start in two months and last until next March. Already, about half of the units are reserved. Prices range from $399,900 to $535,000.

While I have no doubt the place will sell out quickly, it's a shame a residential project has taken over a prime spot on Tampa's "Restaurant Row." More condos and townhouses mean fewer restaurants and bars that make Howard a destination.

Not surprisingly, location is one of the project's main selling points, says Chris Ferlita of Florida Executive Realty, who with Patty Kampsen heads up sales. People want to live within walking distance of places to eat, drink and shop. They want urban living.

But take away places like Mac's and suddenly you have no place to walk to. Townhouses belong on the surrounding streets, not the main drag, which gets quite noisy.

Bill Sharpe, creator of sohotampa.com who ends all his e-mails about SoHo happenings with "See you on the streets," calls it a bummer - and the inevitable result of capitalism. Many of the bars and restaurants operate on leased property. Eventually, the landlords decide to sell to developers for top dollar, which isn't hard in this hot real estate market. (The Mac's site sold for $4-million.)

Who loses? The small, one-of-a-kind businesses that make an area unique and the patrons who frequent them.

Tampa talks nonstop about becoming a vibrant city teeming with creative young people. Replacing neighborhood haunts with glitzy townhouses doesn't help. I'd be shocked if one regular at Mac's forks over a half million for a unit. That's a lot of draft beers.

Mac's has talked about finding a new home in SoHo. Rumors swirled about the former Metroflex gym site on nearby Swann Avenue or the Italian restaurant at Bay to Bay Boulevard and MacDill, which recently reopened as I Monelli Trattoria Italiana. Neither, however, panned out.

In the meantime, Mac's fans will likely disperse to other locales such as MacDinton's, the Dubliner and Tiny Tap.

Demolition of Mac's leaves a big hole in the already grim stretch of Howard. Catty-corner across the street, Old Meeting House closed in late 2003. Primadonna Trattoria shuttered that same year.

The good news is that the owners of Ciccio & Tony's down the street have a contract to buy the Old Meeting House. Ciccio partner James Lanza says they would like to reopen as a diner, possibly called the Meeting House. It would serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, including "the best burgers in the world." Expect beer and wine on the menu, too.

If plans work out, the new-and-improved diner could open in October. Old Meeting House still makes ice cream out of the building and will continue to do so until its new location is ready on S MacDill Avenue.

Steve Reiske, business manager of Old Meeting House Ice Cream, said owner Matthew Hoffman was in no hurry to sell the diner but got an offer too good to pass up. Hoffman previously owned Tuscan Oven and McHale's Chophouse.

Ciccio's also is looking at leasing the Primadonna site owned by Joe Redner, who owns Xtreme Total Health and Fitness club across the street.

Lanza has no problem with townhouses going up on Howard but prefers to maintain the restaurant focus.

"Howard Avenue is the only place in Tampa where you can go to a lot of independent places," he said.

THE LAST DROP: Check out the pedestrian signal lights at Florida Avenue and Jackson Street. The city's transportation department has installed special crosswalk signals at three intersections near City Hall to help pedestrians. The signals count down 12 seconds before the traffic light changes and it's no longer safe to cross the street. Kind of cool for a city known for its high pedestrian fatality rate.

[Last modified March 17, 2005, 08:41:04]