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'Eyesore' gets new makeup via Front Porch initiative

The businesses along 22nd Street are being painted to match the appearance of a nearby apartment community. The project also includes funds for landscaping and blacktopping.

By SHERRI DAY
Published March 24, 2006

Since opening in 2003, Belmont Heights Estates, an 825-unit apartment community, has kept up its picture-perfect appearance. The lawns are immaculate. The buildings pristine.

For years, the surrounding area did not keep pace. Across the street from the mixed-income development, old buildings dotted the landscape like ugly stepsisters.

Now, a makeover is in the works.

Funded by Gov. Jeb Bush's Front Porch Florida initiative, a group of painters has been working to coat businesses along 22nd Street between 26th and Lake avenues with the pastel colors that match homes in Belmont Heights Estates. So far, four businesses have new paint jobs.

Workers plan to repaint eight other businesses along 22nd Street, said Grace Miranda, Tampa's Front Porch community liaison.

"When you drive down 22nd Street, you have this really nice residential area, and you look across the street at the commercial district, and you've got an eyesore," Miranda said.

"We figured that at least with the painting, there would be some kind of uniformity. The more pleasing a building looks, the more likely you are to stop there for services, which helps the entire community."

Soon hues of yellow mustard field, mown grass, pelican tan and summer white will dominate the neighborhood. The $50,000 project also includes funding for landscaping and blacktopping, Miranda said. She would also like to help provide uniform signs for businesses.

Along with cosmetic enhancements, officials at Belmont Heights Estates have been working with business leaders and police to tamp down loitering, trespassing and illegal drug sales in the surrounding community.

"I'm very excited because probably up until this point, it was like you step outside of Belmont and nothing changed," said Sandy Cipollone, the senior vice president for Interstate Realty Management, which manages Belmont Heights Estates. "Now, we feel the cooperation. The positive is washing out of these borders and into the community, and that's what's really exciting."

Business owners welcome the help, particularly because many of them lost the majority of their customers when workers demolished two aging public housing developments to make way for Belmont Heights Estates.

"I'm very appreciative," said Darele Campbell, the pharmacy manager at College Hill Pharmacy, which now sports a yellow facade. "We're actually still in a recovery phase. Having that assistance of upgrading the building, even if it's just painting, was a very big help. Now, we look like the neighborhood."

Harold Watson Jr., who owns the freshly painted Hub Cap's BBQ, also likes the changes.

"The atmosphere across the street is better now," said Watson, whose business has operated since 1969. "You don't have a whole bunch of people standing around, and it's better for business. Now, all kinds of people stop. Business is up."

Belmont Heights residents have noticed the differences, too, and routinely express appreciation, community leaders said.

"Now it's starting to looking like a quaint little village," said Bill Sims, a community activist and social service coordinator at Belmont Heights Estates. "We're trying to make this a safe environment, and I think it's working. People are starting to believe."

Sherri Day can be reached at sday@sptimes.com or 226-3405.

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 11:33:47]