TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Decision Still Out On Courthouse

ADVERTISEMENT

By ELLEN GEDALIUS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2007

TAMPA - About four years ago, the city bought the old federal courthouse for $1.

Since then, it has spent tens of thousands of dollars a year maintaining the 102-year-old structure on Florida Avenue.

City officials have tried and tried to find a tenant for the 120,000-square-foot building, but every attempt has failed.

Most recently, the city talked with the Hillsborough County School District about a plan to put a high school in the courthouse. Both parties remain interested, but no deal is on the immediate horizon.

That means that while the city pays to maintain the structure, the historic building sits vacant. The stench of mold and mildew is pungent. Paint peels from the ceiling. A water pipe burst last month, causing even more damage.

Those characteristics contrast with everything that is right about the building: its stately entrance columns, its marble floors and paneling in the bathrooms, its original light fixtures, its Beaux Arts Classical architecture, its designation as a local landmark and its spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

One city councilwoman is growing impatient with what she sees as a lack of progress.

'It has been four years since we received ownership of it from the federal government,' Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena said at a recent meeting. 'We said we would do something with it other than pay bills.'

Search For A New Role

In the past century, the building has served a variety of uses: a post office, a U.S. Customs House, a federal courthouse.

In 1998, the federal courthouse moved to a brand-new, $81 million building. Five years later, the city bought the old building for a buck.

People came forward with ideas: Turn it into a homeless shelter, a Florida A&M University Law School campus, a hotel, offices for city government. At one point, the Savannah College of Art and Design was interested.

The city sponsored a contest to convert the courthouse. Pradip C. Patel won for his proposal to put two charter schools and a photographic museum in the building. While the city talked with Patel, plans fell through for a new Tampa Museum of Art along the Hillsborough River. Mayor Pam Iorio proposed the courthouse as an alternative site, but museum leaders said no, mainly for two reasons.

One, they wanted to stay on the river. And two, they didn't want to spend half the money allotted for the museum building on a parking garage.

The courthouse has no parking lot. Meters line Florida Avenue and Zack and Twiggs streets, but that's not nearly enough parking for a thriving building as large as the courthouse.

Parking is the biggest obstacle the city faces in finding a tenant, said Mark Huey, the city's economic development administrator.

'What you're trying to find is a use that has modest parking requirements,' Huey said.

The parking problem is one reason the school district hasn't committed to moving into the building, said Cathy Valdes, the district's chief facilities officer.

Teachers' contracts stipulate they have parking near the school.

'That's a big drawback,' Valdes said. 'How close is close? We'll have to deal with that.'

The district has determined that about 35 parking spots are available nearby. But teachers and staff would need about 150 spots. And high school students often drive to school, so they, too, would need places to park, said Steve Hegarty, a spokesman for the district.

'Parking downtown - it's complicated,' Hegarty said.

Magnet School A Possibility

The idea is to use the building as a non-traditional high school program, perhaps more like a magnet school, Valdes said. Students would be able to take advantage of the businesses in downtown through internships and other programs, Valdes said. About 1,000 students would attend.

Turning the courthouse into a school would cost about $20 million, - far less than the $55 million to build a high school from scratch.

But the school district and city remain uncommitted.

'We're still very interested, and we're going to stay interested until the city tells us they found somebody else,' Valdes said.

Huey said: 'They just haven't been able to put things together, so we're going to explore other options.'

Because of the parking shortage, a hotel might be the best commercial use for the building, Huey said, but he hasn't pushed that plan because he doesn't want to undermine the efforts of the Floridan hotel, just a few blocks from the courthouse. The Floridan hotel is undergoing a major renovation.

A Big Cleaning Project

Besides tackling parking problems, any group that moves into the courthouse will have to clean up the building, including the mold and asbestos. In 2001, the General Services Administration said the courthouse was 'unfit for habitation' because of the high level of contaminants.

Whoever moves in also will need to deal with the building's structural problems. The original building is in fairly good shape, but the 1931 addition has uneven floors and a cracked brick exterior. Consultants hired a few years ago by the city and art museum suggested duct, plumbing, heating and electrical systems be replaced.

Not wanting to subsidize whatever organization ends up in the building, the city is looking for a group with a sound fiscal plan. Building operations could cost as much as $12 a square foot.

Saul-Sena has been asking Huey for updates on the courthouse for months. He was scheduled to give an update at a council meeting last week but asked for more time.

Saul-Sena said Huey promised a firm update by December. She said if he doesn't have a viable plan in place by then, the city should issue a formal request for proposals.

Huey says he is talking to at least one group now but declined to give specifics.

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT