Masonic Home to add rooms without losing view of water

The home will build 131 condominiums. After neighbors complained, plans were changed to avoid blocking Coffee Pot Bayou.

By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 9, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- With the surrounding neighborhood's blessing, the Masonic Home redesigned a 131-condominium project it will build near Coffee Pot Park. The Environmental Development Commission on Wednesday approved the plan.

Earlier this year, the Northeast Park Neighborhood Association objected to a scheme that placed all the condos in an L shape along First Street N and 31st Avenue, completely blocking neighbors' view of Coffee Pot Bayou.

After a series of meetings with the neighborhood, the Masons agreed to a redesign that divided the residential project into two clusters separated by a large, landscaped open space.

That break preserves several large, hardwood shade trees, according to architect Gareth Eich. The new design also ensures that the open balconies facing 31st Avenue NE will be "aesthetically pleasing" to patrons of Coffee Pot Park, located to the south of the project.

The Palm Beach-style addition to the Masonic Home, 3201 First St. NE, will be constructed in four phases. Sixty-one condominiums, a dining-room addition, and a new clubhouse on First Street N -- all on the east side of the site -- will be the first built.

In the second phase, 70 condominiums will rise on the western part of the site. In the third phase, a floor added to an existing three-story building will create a 100-bed nursing facility. The fourth phase will add 12,000 square feet of office space to the west side of the cafeteria.

The Masonic Home expansion was first proposed in 1985 and was limited to bed space in the nursing home. The EDC granted repeated extensions as the project was modified to add condominium units and administrative space.

The first phase of the project is scheduled to be finished by March 2002.

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