Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Developer may replace Pappas Restaurant with hotel

Grady Pridgen's plans are not firm yet and Tarpon Springs officials are keeping a tight rein on any project at the high-profile site.

By NICOLE JOHNSON
Published September 29, 2005

TARPON SPRINGS - One of St. Petersburg's most high-profile developers plans to purchase one of the city's most notable landmarks.

Wednesday, the current owners of the now-closed Pappas' Riversid e Restaurant announced Grady Pridgen would take ownership of the mammoth gray building at the entrance to the Sponge Docks and all the development rights that come with it.

Pridgen said he plans to make the purchase in six weeks. The purchase price for the four-acre property was not disclosed.

Pridgen's plan includes the two-story, 48,000-square-foot building and two parking lots. Pappas Restaurant is assessed for tax purposes at $3.2-million this year, records show.

The current owners, MK&B Enterprises, purchased the restaurant from the original owners for $5.5-million in 2002.

Plans are still being finalized for what exactly will be built at the site. But it's likely that the existin g building will be torn down, and a mixture of uses developed. Those could include commercial development as well as a hotel, Pridgen said.

"The county is virtually out of land, and the future is redevelopment," he told Tarpon Springs City Commissioners Tuesday night. "Our planners are studying the culture and trying to bring that to that gateway location."

The Pappas restaurant, at 10 West Dodecanese Blvd., has long served as the entrance to the city's Sponge Docks. The city boasts 800,000 to a million tourists a year, largely because of the docks.

"Our initial indication is that a hotel will work in Tarpon," Pridgen said. "That area has charm and cultural appeal, and there haven't been a great deal of hotels built in that area."

In Tarpon Springs, the commissioners have done little to court development along the Sponge Docks, citing the historical sensitivity of that area.

At Tuesday night's meeting, Mayor Beverley Billiris questioned how Pridgen and staff could truly understand the cultural nuances of the Sponge Docks without having ever traveled to the island o f Kalymnos in Greece. The working-port feel of the Sponge Docks is much like that of Kalymnos, Billiris said.

"It's hard for me to think you can replicate something you've never seen," she told Pridgen. "The integrity of the docks is at risk at this point."

Pridgen said he plans to visit Kalymnos in the near future, along with a architect from his company.

"We want to build something that's going to complement the surrounding structures and the community," he said, adding the company plans to hold public meetings within the community to hear those concerns.

Pridgen said the restaurant will temporarily re-open in December to accommodate existing holiday bookings. He said anyone who booked the restaurant for a holiday event should e-mail him at grady@gradypridgen.com

When city commissioners learned that Pappas had closed its doors earlier this month, they quickly moved to place a moratorium on applications for 75-foot-tall hotels along the docks.

The goal was to gain more control over what would replace the Pappas restaurant.

The docks are the only place in the city where a 75-foot hotel could be built, according to city code. But the City Commission would have to grant a conditional use permit for a building that height. Commissioner Peter Nehr was the lone vote on the commission against the moratorium.

Commissioners say they will lift the moratorium when the revision to the ordinance is complete.

Another Pridgen redevelopment project is under way in North Pinellas.

In August, the company purchased the former Nielsen Research building in Dunedin. In that case, city officials went looking for someone to redevelop the 211,000 square foot site.

--Nicole Johnson can be reached at 727 445-4162 or njohnson@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 29, 2005, 01:19:16]