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Letter to the editor

Explosive event fizzles a little

By JUDY STARK Homes and Garden editor
Published October 5, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Special to the Times] Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio pushes a detonation plunger at the groundbreaking.

Well, it wasn't the first time a developer has missed a cue.

Dignitaries in hard hats, including Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, gathered Sept. 25 for the groundbreaking of the Slade, the latest condo project in the city's Channel District.

Instead of the cliche gold shovels to turn the first spadeful of earth, publicists dreamed this one up: The dignitaries (developers, lenders, city officials among them) would take turns pushing the plunger on the Acme Genuine Slade-o-Matic Detonator (essentially a box with a plunger, decorated with a picture of Wile E. Coyote - yes, really!). This was supposed to release explosions of red, white and blue confetti out on the construction site, synchronized to the cannon section of the 1812 Overture.

But someone gave Mayor Pam the cue too early. She pushed, nothing happened. Ditto the next hard hat. Whoops! So publicist Bob Holtzman had everybody hold their fire - er, plunger - for about 60 seconds' worth of recorded 1812 Overture until the real cannon part began to play. Then Mayor Pam and the others stepped up and hit the plunger again, and again, and again ... and sometimes the confetti actually detonated when it was supposed to. Then the hard hats pulled the strings on popguns spray-painted gold, and out flew streamers in red, white and blue.

Earlier, the mayor told guests at the groundbreaking, "In just a few years the Channel District has gone from shabby to chic." She took a moment to plug mass transit, and said, "We're going to be a really neat metro area one day, aren't we?"

The Slade, at 11th and Washington streets not far from Channelside Drive, will have 280 condo units in twin midrise buildings with residences ranging from 780 to 1,553 square feet. Construction should be completed by fall 2009. Prices range from $327,900 to $591,900. Web site: www.thesladeatchannelside.com. Developer: Cobalt Development Group.

Publicist Holtzman was unfazed by the misfire. "Hey, it's a beautiful day," he said. A few hours earlier the construction site "was a river" of water, rocks and mud, he said. By show time, thanks to work crews with heavy equipment, it was just a lake of water, rocks and mud. What's not to like?

Maybe all that red, white and blue litter.

[Last modified October 4, 2007, 08:04:45]