 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Back
|
Posh mall elevates hopes of neighbors
By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN © St. Petersburg Times,
At International Plaza, a pair of leather boots will sell for more than what the 51-year-old said she likely will shell out for footwear in her lifetime. Customers with plenty of disposable income will arrive in nice cars with air conditioning so cool Staten can almost feel it. She closes her eyes and imagines it overpowering the muggy, still air of her three-bedroom house. Staten lives in Carver City, one of two close-knit neighborhoods hidden in the shadows of looming buildings, boxed in by busy streets. There are no million-dollar homes, just quiet, working-class people. But the modest, mostly black neighborhoods of Carver City and Lincoln Gardens are about to get a rich neighbor. They share a boundary with the new mall, which opens Friday. "Lots of folks are going to drive through here," said Staten, a stay-at-home mom. "It's going to change a lot." Planning experts expect the mall to bring an increase in traffic, property values and jobs to the area. "It is going to be interesting to see what happens to that area in the next five, six, seven years," said Jim Hosler, research director for the Hillsborough County Planning Commission. "The only thing you can say for sure is that things are going to change." Staten, who has lived in the same home for more than 25 years, has watched as the plot of land adjacent to Tampa International Airport changed from dense trees, to an airstrip, to a golf course and now this. The latest endeavor has residents buzzing. Some look forward to the impact the upscale, 1.26-million-square-foot shopping venue will have on the area. Others see it as another attempt by big businesses to invade their property, and their lives. Although Lincoln Gardens and Carver City are separate neighborhoods, their homeowners associations merged in 1984 because they found themselves fighting the same issue of encroachment. The Carver City/Lincoln Gardens Civic and Homeowners Association, which represents residents within the boundaries of Boy Scout, Cypress, Westshore and Dale Mabry, has fought for years to keep business, hotels and freeways out of their neighborhoods, said Thelma Davis, president of the association. Lois Avenue divides the two neighborhoods. Norma Curry, 80, remembers when the area was nothing but wetlands. She was among the first African-Americans to settle in the neighborhood when she moved into a new house on W Spruce Street on June 26, 1951. "Nothing but palmetto thickets and snakes," she recalls. And now, Curry said, "it's become a gold mine." The Westshore business district, one of the largest in Florida, sprouted around them. Schools went up and cars started coming through. Now, some homeowners directly across the street from the mall's southern border are eager to move. "It's exciting," said Laura Dupont, a 60-year-old foster mother who favors consignment shops for her church clothes over pricey department stores. "It's really going to help us get out of here." Dupont, like Staten, has found that they sit on property prime for commercial development. They're pondering offers from business owners wanting to capitalize on the high volume of customers the mall is expected to draw. International Plaza boasts 200 specialty retail shops and restaurants and outdoor cafes, and 6,000 parking spaces. It will have a concentration of luxury shopping new to the Tampa Bay area that will draw more traffic through the neighborhood, a prospect that doesn't please some residents. "We already have more than enough traffic for our area," said Davis, the association president. Tonya Howard, however, isn't worried. Residents have adjusted well to change over the years, said the 36-year-old business owner, who lives on Main Street. "It's a nice neighborhood," she said. The average home is valued between $60,000 and $70,000, and the residents turn out in high numbers on election day. "People don't like to leave," Howard said. "You can move to the end of the earth and they can always reach you through your parents." Besides, Howard said, the mall also is bringing new jobs. More than 2,500 people will be working on opening day, some neighborhood residents among them. Howard's teenage daughter took a job at Limited Too. "She can walk to work," said Howard. "She's going to be working at a famous mall. Everyone is going to know where Carver City is. We should be international Carver City." - Dong-Phuong Nguyen can be reached at (813) 226-3403 or nguyen@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Headlines From the Times local news desks |
