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A property half-eyesore, half-history

Dunedin residents want the "monstrosity" of a tower gone from downtown, but what about the old house that's attached?

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE
Published August 29, 2006

DUNEDIN - The concrete tower downtown that has taken an infamous turn as the city's biggest eyesore is close to getting the wrecking ball. This may sound like good news to a lot of people.

But not this: Likely to come down in the rubble is the historic home that was appended to the tower during construction of a failed project called Dunedin Station Square.

Unless residents or private investors come forward with a feasible rescue plan, the developers will have to tear down the house along with the "monstrosity," which, at a skeletal, boxy and gray four stories, has left locals aghast for more than a year.

Dunedin officials have called the property a public nuisance. The unfinished, mixed-use project is just off Main Street and wedged between the Pinellas Trail, Douglas Avenue and Scotland Street.

Starting Sept. 5, the city's code enforcement board will levy $100-a-day fines until the lot is spruced up with extensive landscaping or wiped clean of any structures.

The developers are applying for a demolition permit this week, said their attorney, Michael E. Boutzoukas. By "sprucing up," city officials were suggesting 17 to 19 palm trees, putting sod where there is now dirt and covering the parking area with mulch.

"It would basically end up looking like a park," Boutzoukas said Monday. "That's what they felt needed to take place so the property wouldn't be considered a nuisance."

But the costs of temporary improvements would run in the thousands, he said. And though his clients are interested in saving the old home, there is this dilemma: "You can't take down the concrete structure and still have the house standing. They're kind of tied together now."

The firm, Dunedin Station Development LLC, bought the downtown property from financial planner Dennis Martino for $2.21-million in January. By that time, the offending tower had already been sitting on the site for several months, abandoned and attached to the home.

The city issued a stop-work order in May 2005 because of building code violations.

Dunedin Station Development LLC, a New Port Richey firm, was the project's original contractor under the name Costa Homes. It still wanted to use the tower as part of a new plan to build 18 condominium units with commercial space.

Now everything is in doubt.

"It would sadden me to lose such a significant part of our past," City Commissioner Deborah Kynes said Monday.

But even the resident who has led a citizens group called Let's Save the House said he has given up.

"Unfortunately, as much as I would like to see that house saved, with all the forces in play, I don't see it happening," said Bill Coleman, 61. "There's not enough time for an investor to come in and get all the answers needed to move it off the property, before the owners have to tear it down."

Robert U. Boyd bought the home from the Zimmerman family in 1935. Boyd was Dunedin's railroad station master and raised eight children in the house. The family lived there for more than 50 years.

Around town, people wanted to live in the classic Southern home, built in 1914 and painted white. It has two stories, a huge attic and a banister that kids would slide down, said Susan Littlejohn, president of the Dunedin Historical Society. She was good friends with Anne, one of Boyd's daughters.

"We had many evenings on the porch when our boyfriends would come over," Littlejohn said. "I had my first kiss on the corner of that yard, and I still remember the fellow, and I think he still lives in this town."

Boyd's wife, Pearl Lowe Boyd, also wrote a column for the Dunedin Times called "From My Kitchen Window," where she would document life around 362 Scotland St. Mrs. Boyd wrote the column until her death in 1965, said her daughter Jayne, 73.

"The owners that built that cement monstrosity have, in addition to tearing out our hearts, torn out the kitchen and the kitchen window. It's just gone!!!" Jayne Boyd wrote in an e-mail.

Jayne Boyd was the administrator of her father's estate when she sold the home in 1989. It then became known as the Honey House and was painted yellow. It would change owners a few more times.

"I hate to go downtown anymore with that 'thing' looming up there and all the wonderful trees and bushes gone," Boyd wrote. "I mourn all the cats, dogs, birds, squirrels, and even fish we had funerals for and buried with love in what will most probably be a parking lot."

Boutzoukas, the developers' attorney, said his clients will donate the house if someone comes forward and finds a place to move it. They will also give $7,000 toward the effort.

"If anyone comes up with a plan between now and next week ... let us know," he said.

He acknowledged that one part of the demolition plan might actually please many residents.

"I think people had a lot of angst about the concrete structure," he said.

Vanessa de la Torre can be reached at vdelatorre@sptimes.com or 727 445-4167.

[Last modified August 28, 2006, 23:05:46]