Developer to renovate Ybor Square

A developer that owns luxury apartments in the bay area has a contract but has not revealed specific plans.

By STEVE HUETTEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 19, 1999

TAMPA -- An Orlando developer has a contract to buy Ybor Square, the pioneering commercial venture whose owner tried to reinvigorate Ybor City two decades ahead of its time.

ZOM Development notified tenants last week that it expects major renovations at the historic structure that was Tampa's first cigar factory.

The company owns four luxury apartment complexes in the Tampa Bay area and is in the process of building two more, one in Carrollwood and another along Tampa's Restaurant Row on S Howard Avenue.

But ZOM hasn't decided whether to turn Ybor Square into apartments, offices, stores or some combination of uses, said Greg West, the company's development manager.

"It's a very unique, wonderful property -- very deserving of a well thought-out restoration," he said. "Our desire is to develop it for the highest and best use. If that's residential, so be it." West would not disclose a purchase price.

ZOM hasn't revealed any plans to the city either, said Fernando Noriega, Tampa's top development official. But he believes the company is leaning toward apartments because of Ybor's severe parking shortage.

"There's no doubt the time has come for that (property) to be redeveloped," Noriega said.

Ybor Square was the dream of Harris Mullen, who as publisher of Florida Trend magazine bought the abandoned cigar factory from stogies manufacturer Hav-A-Tampa in 1972.

Urban renewal destroyed much of Ybor City's old residential area north of Seventh Avenue in the late 1960s, and the area slid into neglect.

But Mullen envisioned a revival that would start with the old V.M. Ybor Cigar Factory. Built in 1886, the factory launched Tampa's cigar industry. More companies followed, attracting thousands of immigrant workers and transforming Tampa into an industrial city.

In 1975, Harris moved Florida Trend into upstairs offices. On the ground floor were an eclectic collection of shops selling antiques, old books, jewelry and gourmet coffee. Restaurants and bars, like Rough Riders, came and went.

For years, Ybor Square was Ybor's only attraction, drawing thousands of visitors for craft fairs and festivals but few customers any other time.

Mullen sold his magazine to Times Publishing Co., publisher of the St. Petersburg Times, in 1980. He sold an interest in Ybor Square to WRB Enterprises, a diversified local company that became the managing partner.

When Ybor's bar and restaurant scene began to boom in the mid-1990s, it happened a few blocks south along Seventh Avenue.

"It's the old story of the pioneers getting arrows in their backs," said Bill Blanchard, vice president of WRB Enterprises. "We certainly created the environment for other businesses to be successful."

Noriega agrees. "I really think of them as the founding fathers of Ybor City development," he said.

Now Ybor Square has a handful of boutique clothing shops, professional offices, three restaurants and a bar that features avant-garde live music.

ZOM has told the tenants it will be hard for them to keep operating during extensive renovations to Ybor Square. But the company doesn't know what will happen with tenants like the Old Spaghetti Warehouse, a popular Ybor lunch spot and the square's busiest restaurant.

ZOM expects to announce its plans in 60 to 90 days before closing on the sale, West said.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.