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City Life

Rules keep shifting for our own Boardwalk, Park Place

By SANDRA THOMPSON
Published March 25, 2006

Maybe somebody can tell me how to play this game. I understand Monopoly; it has rules. Real-life Monopoly in Tampa doesn't have rules, or if it does, the rules are there to be broken. But only in some cases. I guess there is a plan, but, frankly, it eludes me.

Okay, there are a lot of players who want to build on certain properties. For example, a developer wants to build a condo tower (the equivalent of a Monopoly hotel) on Bayshore Boulevard and DeSoto Avenue next to an older high-rise, the Bayshore Royal. The Historic Hyde Park people don't want the new high-rise, so the site - a vacant lot on Bayshore - sits there, growing weeds.

On the other hand, a developer wants to build a high-rise condo on Ysabella Avenue, a block off Bayshore. Based on the alternative - a commercial building that will bring more traffic - the neighbors prefer the condo, but the city said no.

Another high-rise condo, the Bellamy, got to pass "Go" even though its site, Bayshore at Knights Avenue, is in a neighborhood of single-family homes. It dwarfs the older high-rise immediately to the north; to the south there are only houses all the way past Gandy. I can tell you, the neighbors are not happy about this one.

Downtown, things get even weirder. A deal was made - finally - to develop the block where the Kress, Newberry and Woolworth buildings have been left to rot for longer than I've lived in Tampa. But all of a sudden, the city decided the Newberry and Woolworth buildings are historic. The whole block is dead as a doornail, so I doubt too many people even know the buildings exist. I like Deco, but two dime stores don't make an Art Deco district.

So the deal was off, and the owner of the property has threatened to leave it to rot longer.

And here's something else I don't get: Why does Tampa allow downtown property owners to neglect their buildings? I'd love to see someone try that on Davis Islands. Don't we have codes?

Now the same people who decided the dime stores deserve a historic designation decided that Tampa's cigar factories do not. This question is too easy to get on the FCAT: What is more iconic to Tampa? A cigar factory or a dime store?

And riddle me this: The Channel District has a 60-foot height limit, as everyone knows, and, as everyone knows, it doesn't mean a thing. High-rise condos are going up willy-nilly. The Martin, at 22 stories, got the go-ahead a couple weeks ago. At the same meeting, Phase II of the Place, at 33 stories, got put on hold. We're way over 60 feet, so why start counting now? The proposed building is so architecturally stunning it was painful for one council member to not say yes. Imagine that - a building so gorgeous it can't get built in Tampa.

Another conundrum: While buildings have been rejected downtown because they're too tall (earth to Tampa - downtowns have tall buildings), a hop, skip and jump away on mostly residential Harbour Island, apparently no building is too big. Have you seen the new ParkCrest? It's gargantuan. And it's built out almost to the edge of the property, just a few feet between it and the sidewalk. What about setbacks? Maybe they don't apply here, who knows?

About a year ago, a woman new to town asked innocently at a dinner party, "Doesn't Tampa have city planners?" She didn't understand why that got a big laugh.

So the game goes on. I'm not sure who's going to win, but I think I can tell you who's going to lose - the same people who've been losing this game all along.

You know who we are.

Sandra Thompson, a Tampa writer, can be reached at sandrathompson1@mac.com City Life appears on Saturday.

[Last modified March 25, 2006, 01:50:17]