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Neighborhood notebook

Bartlett Park area on comeback trail

Crime-plagued for years, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods is now attracting buyers for its downtown proximity.

By PAUL SWIDER
Published January 1, 2006

One of the city's oldest neighborhoods is on the verge of becoming one of the hottest, according to those who have been working for years to enhance the area around Bartlett Park.

Bartlett Park has the "quickest appreciating property in the city," said April Gayle Gausman, a neighborhood association member and Realtor who has owned property in the neighborhood for 20 years. The area, seen as a blight not long ago, is now seeing an influx of young families attracted to the area's convenience to downtown, as well as the waterfront, the namesake park itself, and the investment opportunity of buying there, she said.

Neighborhood Housing Services' most recent data concurs with Gausman that Bartlett Park is the hottest market in the city, according to Askia Muhammad Aquil, who runs the nonprofit dedicated to improving home ownership in south Pinellas.

"Bartlett Park has some assets that are contributing to its redevelopment," he said, noting the St. Petersburg Tennis Center in the park, which is undergoing a city makeover, as well as proximity to the expanding campus of the University of South Florida. Other neighborhoods have similar assets, he said, but don't capitalize on them. "In every instance, the contributing factor to success is the people who live there."

Thomas Tito is the neighborhood association president and has watched the neighborhood change since the association was formed 15 years ago. The first step was to get rid of a drug gang and then work to keep that kind of element out, he said.

"We had to struggle to win over the kids," Tito said. "The neighborhood had pretty much been abandoned."

Tito said the same group that started the association has been working to fix up the neighborhood and is pleased that their efforts are showing reward. Homes purchased in the early '90s for as little as $30,000 are now selling in the range of $100,000. The neighborhood is still affordable but newer developments, such as new homes on Ingleside on the neighborhood's northern border with Roser Park, are showing a pricier trend, he said.

Bartlett Park dates to 1913 and was one of the city's original suburbs at the end of a streetcar line, Tito said. Some older homes still remain and some newer constructions are mimicking the boom-era style of a century ago.

Tito said the neighborhood has worked with the city and credits it with much, especially helping to clean up crime through community policing. He said he is now trying to reach out to the new residents to bring new members to the association and continue the efforts.

"We're still not satisfied," he said, "but there's been a dramatic improvement."

The next general meeting of the Fossil Park Neighborhood Association will be Tuesday at Palm Terrace of St. Petersburg, 521 69th Ave. N at 7:30 p.m. Zackary Cornett will present a plan for Neighborhood Disaster Evacuation and the group will be looking for ideas and suggestions for meeting programs for 2006. The association is also having a membership drive with a $100 reward to the recruiter that brings in the most new members by the end of January.

Snell Isle Property Owners Association will hold a meeting Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Woman's Club, 40 Snell Isle Blvd. NE.

The Bartlett Park Neighborhood Association will hold a meeting Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. at the Neighborhood Housing Services office at 1600 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. S.

CONA is still accepting applications for its Leadership program, an educational course in government, community and public affairs in St. Petersburg. An application is available on the CONA Web site at http://conastpete.org/downloads/CONA-Application-Form.pdf

Readers wishing to submit information for the Neighborhood Notebook can contact Times staff writer Paul Swider either by e-mail at pswider@sptimes.com or by phone at 892-2271. Neighborhood association presidents who would like to publish their organization's information directly to the Web on their own itsyourtimes.com blog should also contact Paul Swider at pswider@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 1, 2006, 00:28:15]