Vote may revive building at gardens

If Great Explorations gets the green light for a lease, interior renovations would begin on the dank, shuttered building.

By LENNIE BENNETT

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 19, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Today it sits in monolithic decline, even as the rest of Sunken Gardens has reblossomed as a popular attraction.

That could soon change.

The City Council is expected to vote Thursday on a task force recommendation that Great Explorations, the Hands On Museum, lease the majority of the building space. If approved, that would set in motion plans for interior renovations.

In the meantime, architect Tim Rhode is completing an analysis of the building's condition and what it will take to restore the exterior to its original look.

When the 55,000-square-foot building at 1824 Fourth St. N opened almost to the day 73 years ago, it was a handsome, open-air market in the Mediterranean-revival style popular at the time and an ambitious experiment as a forerunner to today's supermarkets.

Called the Sanitary Public Market, it was touted in a promotion as a having "wide aisles, perfect lighting and ventilation, absolute sanitation, uniform regulations and assurance of fair dealing," a place "free from traffic congestion and the need of hundreds of extra footsteps, (where) the housewife may purchase her day's supplies from competitive specialists in every line."

Over the years, it had other uses, and was ultimately acquired by the Turner family as a gift shop for Sunken Gardens, the adjacent 4-acre attraction they owned. After dealing with years of waning attendance, the Turners wanted to sell Sunken Gardens. A referendum approved by the public in 1999 mandated its purchase by the city, saving it from probable obliteration by developers.

The gardens were refurbished and reopened to the public in January, but the building has remained shuttered, dark and dank.

"It's in excellent condition," Rhode said. "The only major problems are with the roof. I'm concerned that numbers to restore it are being thrown around like $17-million. It will cost nothing like that."

Rhode and Raul Quintana, manager of capital improvements for the Department of Leisure Services who has been working with Rhode, estimate that restoring the exterior to a Mediterranean-revival look will cost $2-million.

"Wade Trim, the consultants the city hired, developed an $8-million number," Rhode said, "but that was a long wish list of items for the gardens, the building, additional parking for a 20-year period. We're in the $2-million ballpark with the building to get it ready for tenants who can build out the interior."

Great Explorations leaders hope the children's museum will be one of those tenants.

"We're optimistic," said Robert Patterson, Great Explorations' executive director. "Anything can happen, but we've gotten positive feelings from officials and nothing but positives from people in the community."

If the council approves the task force recommendation, Patterson said, the museum would immediately enter into lease negotiations with the city for about 24,000 square feet of space, which is about half of the building, and start raising the $2-million he estimates an interior renovation would require.

Patterson said that in a best-case scenario, the museum could open there in 12 to 18 months.

The task force has recommended that the remaining square footage be used for community gathering space, offices, a gift shop and possibly a restaurant.

The building now has few windows and little distinguishing exterior details, the result of modifications over the years to suit its various purposes, which included use as a local processing plant for a soft drink company.

"A 1940 renovation gave it an Art Moderne look," said Rhode, "and closed up a lot of the older details."

He said reopening existing second-floor windows, replacing the glass-block wall that now obscures views in and out, restoring the mahogany doors and adding new cast-stone exterior details will give it the open, dramatic look it once had.

Rhode's analysis, which the city commissioned for $20,000, was paid for in part by a state grant. It is a separate document from the Wade Trim report, which deals with overall usage of Sunken Gardens. Rhode's more limited analysis will be used in the application for another, larger historic preservation grant the city is submitting to the state in May, requesting up to $500,000 for renovations.

Rhode said that some of the original features -- terrazzo-topped counters, for example -- will probably not be included in the renovation plan.

"But we want to redo the arcade," Rhode said. "It was a wonderful building. I'm sure it can be again."

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