Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Neighborhood notebook

Council grants rezoning for hotel, garage near pub

By SHERRI DAY, JANET ZINK
Published May 27, 2005

HYDE PARK NORTH - The City Council approved on May 19 a rezoning request to allow a hotel and parking garage at Platt Street and Plant Avenue.

Colin Breen owns the property, located two doors from Breen's thatched roof Irish pub, Four Green Fields, 205 W Platt St. The hotel may have an Irish theme, Breen said.

The parking garage will be robotic, the first of its kind in the Tampa area.

Breen originally planned to build a conventional parking garage. But while researching robotic garages on the Internet, he discovered one of the world's leading manufacturers was in Clearwater. The new plan allows Breen to fit more cars on less land. The traditional garage would have had a footprint of more than 32,000 square feet. The new one takes up 6,000 square feet.

That means Breen was able to design more green space into his hotel project and preserve some surface parking.

Breen's garage will blend into the design of his hotel and provide parking for hotel guests and Four Green Fields patrons. He also will offer parking to St. John's Episcopal Middle School either in the garage or on the ground.

EAST YBOR - A community activist's plans for two dilapidated bungalows in East Ybor appear to be sidetracked.

Last month, longtime East Ybor resident Jeraldine Williams-Smith asked the City Council to consider buying two houses at 26th Street and 11th Avenue and converting them into a community center and a library for area youth.

Council members asked city staff to meet with Williams-Smith to see if the city could accommodate her request. At the May 17 meeting, Cindy Miller, the city's director of the Department of Business and Housing Development, urged Williams-Smith to consider a different site because the Florida Department of Transportation owns the homes and has already contracted them for sale. The DOT began renovating one of the bungalows on May 2, said DOT consultant Elaine Illes.

At the meeting, Miller gave Williams-Smith a map of other city parcels that could possibly be used for her project. DOT officials also said the agency has other houses that could be available to the city for a community center in East Ybor.

"We are looking at exploring whether there are other options," Miller said.

[Last modified May 26, 2005, 08:26:10]