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Beach center: 'What a pleasure this is'
By KATHY SAUNDERS © St. Petersburg Times, published July 12, 2000 TREASURE ISLAND -- Jackie Renzoni's friends want to take a picture of her today as the first person to swing on the new playground at the Treasure Island Beach Center. For the past few weeks, Renzoni has been offering them tours of the center -- from her living room across the street. "She's probably got the best view in the city," said City Manager Chuck Coward, who also was offered the tour. Renzoni, owner of the Coral Lee Motel, said she loves everything about the new center. "We love the color, we love the architecture, we love the flowers and the other things they put in -- what a pleasure this is," she said. The center will be dedicated at noon today with a public ceremony that includes free hot dogs, chips and soda. The beach center is at 8000 W Gulf Blvd. on Sunset Beach. Last July, residents watched as a wrecking ball demolished Bedrox, a pink, igloo-shaped structure that housed a gay and lesbian bar before the city bought the beachfront property in 1997. The concrete structure was built in 1973 as the Penguin Restaurant, designed to withstand hurricanes, such as the ones that had closed the restaurant several times since it opened in 1945. Swamped with complaints about the operations at Bedrox, which opened in 1990, commissioners bought the restaurant after nightclub owners fell into financial trouble and closed the bar. Treasure Island paid $1.325-million for the property and this year spent another $350,000 to develop the beach center and park. The new center, designed by architects Enrique Woodroffe and Phil Graham, features an open-air pavilion and tower that also will be incorporated into several other new city structures. The beach center has ramps to the beach, restrooms, showers, picnic tables, benches, paths, a playground and a concession area that will open in the future. "I think the bathrooms are the biggest thing," said Renzoni. "But the shelter and the children's park also were badly needed. It's just so much better looking than cement."
 © St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved. 
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