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What's Brewing

W Tampa hungers for this

By SUSAN THURSTON
Published August 19, 2005

Just before noon Tuesday, the lunch crowd starts to trickle in to the NoHo Bistro in West Tampa. Owner Jessica Raia-Long greets most of the customers by name. Two workers busily prepare sandwiches, salads and the day's catering orders.

It's a simple operation by design. Just one table with four chairs and a counter with three stools. Strangers sit with strangers.

Raia-Long opened the bistro at 1912 N Howard Ave. in May 2004, knowing the building was up for sale. She wanted a place where she could hone her culinary skills but still have time for her young son. She wanted to be a part of West Tampa's revival. Her jingle: SoHo? SoWhat? Visit the NoHo.

Less than two years later, she's talking about moving. Not because she wants to, but because she might have to. The building's new owner wants to raise the rent, and she can't afford it.

It's an unfortunate situation, but not a huge surprise. Today's hot real estate market comes with a price.

Raia-Long came to West Tampa in the hopes of establishing a customer base and gradually expanding her business. By her measures, it has worked. The restaurant will operate in the black this year, and her catering business is taking hold. Many of the same faces return for lunch week after week.

But it's hardly Panera Bread. Raia-Long says she pulls in $85 a day in lunch sales, plus $100 to $150 in catering. Four people she considers a rush. She's happy.

You can boil down the situation to two words: unrealistic expectations.

The building owner bought the property at Howard and Spruce Street last year for $200,000, according to Hillsborough County property records. It includes a small building with space for two tenants and a parking lot.

The bistro pays $936 a month for the front unit under a lease negotiated between the previous owner and previous tenant, Pizza One, she said. The back unit has been vacant for a while.

At that rate, it's hard to imagine the building owner making money.

Raia-Long expected rent on her 1,000-square-foot space to go up - possibly to $1,100 a month - when her lease expires in December.

Her head isn't buried in cookbooks.

But her jaw dropped when she heard $2,000. "How can you justify that?" she said. "I might as well move to South Howard."

The owner, Mark Katz, declined to comment.

Raia-Long's next-door neighbor, Carlos Diaz, the longtime owner of Boni's Door and Screens, said he hopes the bistro will stay.

"She's really improved the place," he said.

Granted, $9 or $10 a square foot is low, even for emerging West Tampa. But doubling the rent seems a virtual death blow to an eclectic, independent business trying to make a go of it in this still-risky neighborhood.

Consider this:

- A building on Platt Street near Bayshore Boulevard is available for rent for $2,000 a month, or $16.81 a square foot, according to the commercial/retail real estate Web site LoopNet.com. Its neighbors: Publix, Marc & Didi's Deli, Four Green Fields and the new One Bayshore condo building.

- A new strip center, the Shoppes at Interbay, at S MacDill Avenue, is advertising space for $19.50 a square foot. That's new space with new air conditioning and plumbing in the heart of Ballast Point.

- The Cadillac of rental space in Tampa, in the super hot Channel District, is going for $29 to $32 a square foot.

I can't blame property owners for wanting to cover their costs. But investors need to take them into consideration when buying property, whether it be retail or residential.

The bistro building probably turned a profit under the previous owner, who paid $53,000 for it in 1990. At $200,000, it's a different story.

Like a lot of property in West Tampa, the building might be worth a bundle someday. West Tampa is on many developers' radar. Ed Turanchik is building affordable homes. Barbara Baker is turning the former Gold Nugget tavern into an antique emporium.

For now, the area has a ways to go.

For now, the area needs the NoHo Bistro.

"We need more types of these eclectic businesses," said Baker, who has been in West Tampa for 17 years.

"I would certainly miss the eggplant sandwiches."

Second that for the apple and walnut tuna salad.

THE LAST DROP: The demise of the Signature Room Grille in Channelside is yet another example of unrealistic expectations. The rich masses may be moving downtown and to the Channel District, but news alert: They aren't here yet! And won't be for a while. A more appropriate choice for a restaurant above Hooters would be an Outback, Carrabba's or Bonefish Grill - proven favorites in this town.

Susan Thurston can be reached at 226-3394 or thurston@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 18, 2005, 11:46:08]