TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Art Museum May Pay Visit To West Tampa

ADVERTISEMENT

By ELLEN GEDALIUS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 1, 2007

TAMPA - Tampa Museum of Art officials would like to stay downtown while their new building is under construction.

But now reality has set in: Transforming space at the convention center for a short-term home is too expensive, and other options downtown are just as pricey, if not more so.

Now the plan, pending approval from the museum's executive committee, is for the museum to move into the Centro Espanol de West Tampa building on Howard Avenue.

That would heighten the danger of losing visitors by moving to a new neighborhood, but museum and city officials say the new site's advantages outweigh those concerns.

'It's a community we're trying to revitalize,' said Santiago Corrada, neighborhood services administrator. 'It's about opportunity and it's about cost. You have to weigh things.'

Plans are under way for a new Tampa Museum of Art at the northern edge of Curtis Hixon Park. But the museum needs to move out of its existing building on Ashley Drive by the end of January. Groundbreaking on the new site is scheduled for early next year, and construction could take about two years.

A few months ago, the art museum board agreed to set up temporary quarters at storefront space at the Tampa Convention Center.

But the space needs a lot of work. There's no electricity or air conditioning, and major renovations are needed. The original estimate of $250,000 to make the space usable climbed to more than $700,000 - too much for the city to spend on interim space, Corrada said.

The Centro Espanol building, with about 9,000 square feet of usable space, would cost $50,000 to $100,000 to renovate, Corrada said.

The Centro Espanol building housed the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League until the nonprofit organization folded in 2006. In January, the city paid $1 million for the building. Since then, city officials have met with community leaders to toss around ideas for the structure.
Mayor Pam Iorio has said any tenant must generate revenue for the city. Building maintenance costs run about $135,000 a year.

That's still the long-term goal, Iorio said Wednesday, but having a tenant in the building immediately would be good for the West Tampa neighborhood. The Centro building has sat vacant for some time.
West Tampa activist Maura Barrios said she likes the museum idea and thinks people would visit. She also likes the fact the building would be occupied.

'They go downtown; why not West Tampa?' she said.

Centro Espanol, built in 1912, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The city is scouring for grants to pay for roof repairs.

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT