Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Neighborhood Report

Cottage crowd seeks out some expert advice

A resident of St. Petersburg's Historic Kenwood offers tips.

By MICHAEL CANNING
Published August 18, 2006

Seminole Heights residents turned green with envy recently when a national homes magazine honored St. Petersburg's Historic Kenwood neighborhood. But they weren't above asking for advice.

The Business Guild of Seminole Heights (B'GoSH) invited Jeff Schorr, a member of the Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association, to speak at its Aug. 10 meeting.

"I heard there was some people who are jealous here," said Schorr about Cottage Living magazine's naming Historic Kenwood one of the Top 10 Cottage Communities of 2006 in its July/August issue. "It could have just as easily been Seminole Heights."

Indeed, Seminole Heights has many of the factors that won Historic Kenwood the distinction: an abundance of historic homes, civically active residents and a healthy front-porch culture.

But Schorr pointed out some of Historic Kenwood's advantages over Seminole Heights and what could be done about them.

Historic Kenwood borders on the Grand Central District portion of Central Avenue, an area of renewed retail, office and residential uses. Having "colorful, independent retail stores and eateries within walking distance" was one of Cottage Living's parameters.

Seminole Heights has no such luck. The disparity between its largely refurbished residential streets and flat-lined commercial corridors remains wide.

When Schorr indicated that Grand Central has flexible zoning that encourages commercial uses on buildings' ground floors and residential above, some in the audience grumbled. Fueling the frustration was the fact that the city of St. Petersburg has taken over the portion of Central Avenue from the state.

The Florida Department of Transportation runs Seminole Heights' main thoroughfares - Hillsborough, Florida and Nebraska avenues - creating a considerable road block for zoning changes that would entice more entrepreneurship.

Schorr also counseled his Heights' counterparts to desegregate their neighborhood and business interest groups. "Our business district was actually started by residents, not businesses," he said.

Schorr, along with the magazine, touted Historic Kenwood's active residents. Neighbors regularly volunteer to clean intersections. Grant money was secured to reimburse $200 to businesses that get a new paint job. Residents show movies on big screens in empty lots, and porch parties are common.

Attendees of the B'GoSH meeting liked what they heard.

"Mixed-use zoning, that's really where it's at," said Alan Dobbs, owner of Florida Design Studio Corp.

"Our biggest hindrance is the DOT issue," said Jessica Landerfield, a yoga and Pilates instructor and owner of Serendipity Puddle Studio. "But I think we can learn from Kenwood, especially in developing a stronger relationship with the city."

But Seminole Heights' pride wasn't completely swallowed. "Before we get too envious of Kenwood," Old Seminole Heights resident Greg Barnhill said, "we should remember that Seminole Heights was featured in the second issue of Cottage Living" in March/April 2001.

[Last modified August 17, 2006, 10:49:52]