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Everybody's Business

Seminole Heights loses, gains stores

By MICHAEL CANNING
Published March 3, 2006

Seminole Heights' fledgling commercial lineup is showing signs of last-minute shifting before what could prove to be a neighborhood turning point, the mid-April opening of Starbucks at Hillsborough and Central avenues.

Leaving are Ashley's on the Avenue gift and antique shop and Sports and Physical Therapy of Seminole Heights. Coming are Art, Decor and More in Ashley's space and new office space in an old apartment building.

Ashley's owner Ashley Warner said she's closing because "the neighborhood didn't support the store like it should have. There's still kind of a negative image of the neighborhood, even though residentially that's not the case. But commercially it's still got a long ways to go."

Warner, who opened in August 2002, said her last day will be Saturday.

But the space at 4709 N Florida Ave. will reopen this week as Art, Decor and More, said owner Joseph Soutter. He plans to offer "something old, something new, and definitely something different."

Besides decor and antique furniture, he will set aside space for exhibiting works by local artists, including glass artist Susan Gott.

Soutter, who also works as an interior decorator, lived in Seminole Heights 20 years ago, at the dawn of the neighborhood's residential revitalization. He recently returned.

At 5803 N Florida Ave., Sports and Physical Therapy of Seminole Heights is closing because owners Keith and Rebecca Clower got an opportunity in Costa Rica they couldn't pass up. So the business and the land are for sale.

The Clowers opened last May after gutting a 1926 bungalow and refurbishing it. They added Pilates, yoga, and massage therapy to Keith's physical therapy practice. He estimated that about half of his business consisted of neighborhood walk-ins. The rest came from insurance company and physician referrals.

Keith hopes to sell before October, when he and Rebecca will move to Playa Potrero, Costa Rica, to start a real estate investment company, KRC Development. "Now is the time to get in," Keith said of the land opportunities in Costa Rica. Rebecca, a Tampa Realtor, has family there.

The Clowers, by the way, live in Seminole Heights and have bought, renovated and sold more than two dozen houses in the neighborhood since 2000. "It's been good to both of us," he said.

In the meantime, another building, an old two-story apartment building at 105 E Giddens Ave. is getting a new life as the Giddens Center.

It last served as a low-rent apartment building before being sold, gutted and renovated, a process that began about two years ago. The project claimed a former auto parts business, which was demolished and its lot converted into parking for Giddens Center.

Property manager Vince Bekiempis said the 7,000-square-foot, 1925 vintage building is 60 to 70 percent leased. The tenant mix includes a psychiatrist and brokerage companies, but he declined to give further details.

Rumors that longtime SoHo favorite Cappy's Pizzeria is moving to Seminole Heights apparently aren't true. An employee at the restaurant said Cappy's is moving to Bay to Bay Boulevard, then referred further questions to the business owners, who have not returned calls from the Times.

A FRESH START ON HENDERSON: The wait for a South Tampa Fresh Market isn't quite over. The gourmet grocery planned for the former U-Save supermarket at 3722 Henderson Blvd. is tentatively scheduled to open Oct. 11, said Eric Blaesing, spokesman for the Greensboro, N.C., chain.

The store, which is being renovated, will carry the same products as the Fresh Market on N Dale Mabry Highway, he said. But the look will be a little different.

"Tile on the walls, rather than wood," Blaesing said. "We'll have Italian tile (on the floor), and the canopies will be replaced by brass and copper overhangs."

Another old Fresh Market hallmark, dim lighting, has been tweaked. The Henderson Fresh Market will be "almost twice as bright" as the Carrollwood Fresh Market, though still noticeably darker than typical supermarkets, he said. Only incandescent bulbs will be used - no fluorescents.

Fresh Market has 55 stores throughout the Southeast and Midwest.

- Do you know something that should be everybody's business? Call 226-3382, or e-mail mikecanning@hotmail.com

[Last modified March 2, 2006, 13:56:08]