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Dunedin is sweating the design details

It's the second time in recent months that concerns about a building's architecture delayed commissioners' decision.

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE
Published April 22, 2006

DUNEDIN - After scrutinizing drawings of a $30-million condo project in the heart of downtown, city commissioners were expected to approve the final site plan Thursday night.

Instead, a majority of them said the five-story building called Stirling Place looked "boxy" and uncharacteristic of Dunedin, as the architect looked on. They postponed their decision for two weeks.

"This architecture, umm, I would call it condo amorphous," Commissioner Deborah Kynes said.

But Commissioner Julie Ward Bujalski, a newcomer to the board, went a step further. She announced that she could not in "clear conscience support that building" and would vote against the project altogether - not just based on looks.

"I've heard very clearly from the people of Dunedin that they don't want it," said Bujalski. "They believe it's too big."

It was the second time in several months that city commissioners hedged on a Main Street development in Dunedin, with most citing concerns that the contemporary facade didn't jibe with the "quaintness" that has characterized downtown for decades.

Last year, they questioned an upscale condo and retail project on 200 Main Street, saying it was out of touch with the Dunedin environment. After some aesthetic changes, commissioners unanimously approved the plan.

This time it was Stirling Place, a mixed-use development to be built on little more than an acre on the southwest corner of Main and Broadway, next to the popular Sea Sea Riders Restaurant. Currently on the property is the Dicus Building and Stirling Hall, a dilapidated 1950s recreation and social center.

Office and commercial space would make up the ground floor; a parking garage the second level; and the third, fourth and fifth floors would house 32 luxury condo units, each starting in the $700,000s, according to proposals.

Real estate attorney Michael Mackenzie, representing the Stirling development firm, Lehigh-Broadway LLC, told commissioners it was hard catering to everyone's tastes. "When you talk about style . . . you know, it's eclectic. It's all different. And this is one piece."

"There are no standards for architecture in the code," Mackenzie later said. He complained that the final site plan wasn't much different from the preliminary one, which commissioners approved.

Selviye Tzekas, owner of Sea Sea Riders Restaurant, expressed excitement over the project in the public hearing segment. "What's there now definitely needs to be changed," she said. Another resident differed, calling the proposal an eyesore in the making.

Community services director Kevin Campbell said his staff recommended approving the plan.

But Kynes balked. "Postpone this and send it back for architectural alterations. We did that with 200 Main and they didn't like it," she said, adding that the trouble is worth it, so long as it saves Dunedin from a big downtown gaffe. "Once we do it, it's done. It's 70 years."

Commissioner Julie Scales agreed. "It's a new type of development in Dunedin," she said. "I don't think by any stretch of the imagination someone can use the word "quaint' to describe this."

"It comes across very boxy," said Vice Mayor Dave Eggers. "If we can soften that . . ."

Dennis E. O'Keefe, president of O'Keefe Architects, stood and walked to the podium. He said changes could be made before the May 4 commission meeting if that is what commissioners wanted. But what they're calling boxy is already the 12th design he has created for Stirling Place.

"I don't think you're being fair," O'Keefe said. Nor do the commissioners seem to be experts in architecture and elevation plans, he charged.

"What kind of training do any of you have to visualize it?" he asked.

Mackenzie warned that unless commissioners gave more detailed feedback about what they want, the altered plans were going to have a "different kind of lipstick, different kind of something. But the structure is going to look the same."

Kynes said she wasn't trying to be arrogant with her criticism.

O'Keefe laughed.

"But you know what," Kynes continued, leaning forward. "I'd be proud that I didn't design this, because I think you could do a lot better."

In the end, they came to something of an understanding.

"We've switched horses as far as architectural compatibility; is that fair to say?" Kynes asked Mackenzie.

"I wouldn't say we switched horses," Mackenzie said. "We just couldn't find the horse that represents downtown Dunedin."

Vanessa de la Torre can be reached at 445-4167 or vdelatorre@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 22, 2006, 01:39:14]