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Building toward a 'go-to' downtown

A streetscape project is the next step in a plan that seeks to bring Cleveland Street back to a bustling urban setting.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published February 6, 2006

CLEARWATER - The demolition of the Calvary Baptist Church dome last week ended one chapter in downtown's history.

City officials wasted little time turning to the next.

In a series of discussions, city leaders worked to define their vision for downtown, especially Cleveland Street.

They want to make downtown a "go-to place rather than a go-through place," said Frank Bellomo, a landscape architect the city hired to shape the new downtown.

The plan calls for wider sidewalks and a plethora of outdoor seating on Cleveland Street, which would be home to at least a dozen restaurants and coffee shops mixed with bookstores, antique shops and clothiers.

The city would help businesses restore building facades to their original luster and add 6-foot canopies to create an environment more friendly to foot traffic. New condo high-rises would add vigor and, most important, people to the mix.

The plan's crown jewel would be a new movie theater, which officials have long coveted, to anchor the street at Cleveland and Osceola Avenue.

It's an ambitious overhaul of a downtown Mayor Frank Hibbard now calls "sick." Its working title is a "Cafe Society."

Downtown didn't deteriorate overnight, they say, and it won't be reborn that quickly either. But, "I can guarantee that when this is complete, there will be a number of more people on the street," Bellomo told about 80 people at a town hall meeting Tuesday. "What becomes the challenge is to keep these people coming back."

The streetscape project, which could cost up to $6.6-million with construction starting as soon as April, is the city's major investment in the new downtown. Much like the Beach Walk plan for Clearwater Beach, officials believe a new street-level experience will attract more visitors and more businesses.

The work will take a year to 18 months, depending on how much of the road the city decides to close to traffi c during construction. At the same time, work on at least two major condominium projects, Station Square and Water's Edge, is expected to begin along Cleveland.

At the same time, city officials will launch a retooled grant program to encourage business owners to rehab the facades of their buildings, add canopies and other embellishments. The city also is considering a loan program for businesses affected by the construction.

"The streetscape is just one of the threads of a fabric that we are trying to weave in a new downtown," Hibbard said.

Not all of downtown's current merchants are convinced.

They say the core issue downtown, parking, is not addressed in the city's grand plan. In fact, some parking spaces along Cleveland will be eliminated as part of the streetscape.

"Where there are six parking spaces in front of my store now, they want to put three," said George Kelly, owner of Downtown Newsstand. "You cannot have a successful downtown unless you maximize your parking. This program and this design does exactly the opposite."

Kelly and others want the city to build angled parking, like in downtown Dunedin, rather than the parallel parking now proposed.

City officials say they can't do both; angled parking won't fit along with widened sidewalks and landscaped medians.

Economic Development Director Geri Campos said two public parking garages with more than 400 spaces are in the works as part of private developments. And 1,800 new residential units are now planned for downtown, meaning there will be more foot traffic as well.

"The streetscape project addresses the public realm. It shows the city's investment in downtown," Campos said. "The next step is how to encourage the private property owners to make improvements to their buildings, how to encourage the private realm to follow our lead."

--Aaron Sharockman can be reached at 727 445-4160 or asharockman@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 6, 2006, 01:09:14]