Is it a historic hotel or hideous hovel?

The city wants to spruce up the 90-year-old building, which is at the core of Largo. But the owner appears uninterested.

[Times photo: Jim Damaske] After earning a spot on the national historic register in 1987, the building on First Street has remained mostly idle.

By MICHAEL SANDLER
© St. Petersburg Times,
published December 2, 2001

LARGO -- Just south of West Bay Drive lies a landmark of Largo history that has become an obstacle to its future.

The 90-year-old Johnson building was once the Pinellas Hotel and could be the center of an effort to revitalize the city's downtown district. It's the only building in the city to have a place on the national historic register, even after years of neglect have reduced it to a junkyard at the city's main intersection.

Largo officials still see promise in chipped paint and cracked wood, and they are prepared to back that vision with cash.

But standing in the way is the property owner, a Pinellas County sheriff's deputy who has twice ignored city code violations and seems uninterested in the greater vision of progress, even at the expense of his own profit.

"It could be a primo property," said Terry Moore, manager for the Downtown Largo Mainstreet Association. Instead, "It's all filled with old tools and junk and it has a plaque that says, "Historic Register.' It's a shame that the property is not being used. He can rent it out. It's a money making opportunity for him."

Moore, who is not paid by the city but whose organization is helping the city redevelop downtown, sees the landmark hotel as a linchpin. She tried to convince owner Charlie Johnson that renovating the 1911 building could make money for him, restore the building to its former glory and help revitalize downtown. And the city would help pay for the improvements with grants and low-interest loans.

But Johnson dismissed the idea.

He and sister Joyce Siegel inherited the building after their mother, Frances Johnson, died in 1994. Siegel now lives on the second floor, and both refused interviews for this story.

The siblings are the grandchildren of Louis Steele Johnson, the man responsible for the original building that went up in 1911. His memory is captured in a window in the front of the building.

Next to a gold plaque that proclaims the building's spot on the national historic register sits a photo of Louis Steele Johnson. He's watching patrons sip coffee in the drugstore of his Pinellas Hotel, a 90-year-old image that freeze frames the hotel's heyday.

But a peek through the window shows those days have long passed. Tools, ladders, a beat-up generator and paint-stained coffee cans are strewn along the floor. Outside, along the building's side, are old cars, auto parts and NO TRESPASSING signs.

"It looks like someone walked out the door and never came back," said Ric Goss, Largo's community development director.

The family turned the hotel into the Johnson Brothers Auto Machine and Supply Co. in the 1950s. But after earning a spot on the national historic register in 1987, the building has remained mostly idle on First Street.

Just off the corner of West Bay Drive and Seminole Boulevard in the heart of the city's downtown, the building has captured the imaginations of Moore and Goss.

They envision turning it into an outdoor cafe or bed and breakfast. Such ideas could be just the boost needed to kick-start a meaningful downtown revitalization.

Even Louis Johnson's great-granddaughter was open to the idea.

About a year ago, Siegel's daughter came to see Matt Anderson, the city's housing manager. She told him about the building's electrical wiring, plumbing and roof needing repairs. Could the city help with a loan, she asked.

Anderson said cheap, low-interest money was available for the inside. And because the building is historic, the family could get grant money for free to renovate the outside.

"She said that sounded real good," Anderson recalled. "She said her mother liked the idea, but said they had to talked to her uncle."

Siegel's daughter returned a short time later. Johnson said no.

"That was the end of it," said Anderson, who has never talked with Johnson.

Anderson was perplexed. "There is money there to fix it up, because it is a historic building."

The historic designation also prevents developers from demolishing the building and requires that renovations be in keeping with the original design.

"The daughter got very excited," Anderson said. "The mother said it was a great idea. But that was the end of it."

So the property continues as an eyesore. Largo police cited the detective with the Sheriff's Office three times last year because an unlicensed Dodge Aries was parked in the yard. He removed the truck after the third citation.

Goss, the city's community development manager, can't figure it out. Siegel could continue to live upstairs while renting out the downstairs. Or Johnson could renovate the entire building and rent it out or sell it.

Either way, they could turn a hefty profit with almost no investment.

"For one reason or another, they don't want to," said Goss. "I don't know why. I have no idea."

-- Michael Sandler can be reached at (727) 445-4174 or sandler@sptimes.com.

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