Developer puts forth alternative

A man who has been involved in a string of previous city projects says his plan for downtown is ready to go.

By CHRISTINA HEADRICK

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 7, 2000

CLEARWATER -- Sitting in the small, cluttered apartment-motel room in Clearwater Beach he calls home, William G. Blackburn has been trying to create a downtown redevelopment project to rival a grander plan now being debated.

Blackburn, who developed Clearwater Mall in the early 1970s, said Tuesday that he is willing to pay as much as $15-million to buy Calvary Baptist Church's downtown property, three chunks of land that are key to redevelopment.

Calvary Baptist leaders, however, are more interested in pursuing a deal with West Palm Beach developers George de Guardiola and David Frisbie, the Rev. Bill Anderson, the church's pastor, said Tuesday.

De Guardiola and Frisbie's project -- including a movie theater, new downtown housing and a hotel to be built on the Calvary site and adjacent city land -- must get the approval of city voters in a July 11 referendum.

City officials are backing the de Guardiola downtown plan, and the church wants to work with the city, Anderson said.

Calvary Baptist will need the city's help later if it is to build a new home and high school off McMullen-Booth Road in east Clearwater. For instance, the proposed site for the church requires the city to rezone the land to allow a church there.

"Our guys have talked with (Blackburn) and just put it aside, really," Anderson said. "We're going to hold that in abeyance right now, until after the referendum. We're not sure we would negotiate with him. In fact, there's some strong sentiment not to. It's just on the table."

The ultimate decision lies with the congregation of Calvary Baptist, which must vote on the sale of the church's downtown property to any developer. The congregation's vote will be taken after the results of this summer's referendum, which will determine whether the de Guardiola downtown redevelopment plan is a go or a no.

If the massive downtown plan is crushed by voters, the church could consider Blackburn's offer, Anderson said.

Blackburn, 68, said he is capable of offering a higher price than de Guardiola and Frisbie. The West Palm Beach developers have kept their offer for the Calvary Baptist property confidential.

Anderson said that money is not the church's only consideration in deciding how it sells its downtown land.

Blackburn said that he wants to use the church's historic sanctuary property, plus some city land to the west, to create a "mini-mall" at the southwest corner of Cleveland Street and Osceola Avenue. He said he's willing to invest $48-million -- although he's still looking for additional investors.

The once-busy Clearwater developer has an architectural floor-plan taped on the wall of his unit at the Paradise Cove Apartment Motel in Clearwater Beach. The drawing shows a 40,000-square-foot specialty store like Jacobson's, additional shops, office space, two restaurants, a 112-unit condominium tower and a five-story parking garage.

Blackburn said he would probably buy and then resell another chunk of church land on Pierce Street to Pinellas County or the Church of Scientology. He would create a three- to five-screen movie theater using Calvary's property on another block of Cleveland Street.

Compared to such grand plans, Blackburn's current abode is modest. He jots down notes about financing on sheets of notebook paper in a small room that functions as bedroom and office. His chihuahua puppy is being paper trained on sheets of newspaper in a corner. A black-and-white photograph of him as a preppy student at Georgia Tech hangs on the wall.

Blackburn developed Clearwater Mall nearly 30 years ago with his brother. He also worked to create the 567-home neighborhood of Morningside Estates, as well as the Seville garden apartments near Clearwater Mall, Northwood Estates and Coachman Ridge subdivisions.

But after two divorces and a personal bankruptcy filing, Blackburn said, he hasn't done much development since 1986. Blackburn blamed the need to file for personal bankruptcy in 1988 on serious health problems.

Now, he said, his finances and he are healthy again, and he could orchestrate a downtown redevelopment project using Calvary's land.

"All my financing is already arranged," Blackburn said, citing an Atlanta bank that has expressed interest in the project. "I can close in four months, 120 days."

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