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Old School Building's Future Up In Air

Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN

City officials said Friday's hearing on the former Gary Adult School was needed to address public safety and health issues.

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By KATHY STEELE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 26, 2008

Updated: 07/26/2008 12:13 am

TAMPA - People clinging to hope that the former Gary Adult School can be saved from the wrecking ball are hoping contractor John Simon follows through with his plan to develop the 1913 building as the centerpiece of a sports complex.

"We're just pleading with him to try to take time to preserve a historical gem," said Fran Costantino, president of the East Ybor Historic & Civic Association. "We are here to support him and to help him."

A code enforcement hearing Friday, scheduled after part of the building collapsed this week, highlighted how difficult that goal has become.

By mid-August, two engineering reports are expected: one from Simon and another from a contractor hired by the city. Simon must meet a 15-day deadline or face a $500-a-day fine, a city hearing master said Friday.

Simon also must take steps to secure the building and brace its walls, if the engineering reports conclude the school is salvageable. If he and the city reach different conclusions, the matter goes back to the hearing master.

Also, Simon must appear before the city's code enforcement board Aug. 27 for citations regarding the old school's roof, windows, doors, outside stairs and gutters. The citations were issued before much of the structure's roof and west wall collapsed Tuesday.

"If I can save it, that's great and I'd like to save it," Simon said. But, "I can't spend millions of dollars on something that's not salvageable."

For decades the school served the once-rural Gary community, east of Ybor City, which thrived on cigar making and farming.

District school officials placed the property on the market in 2005 and opened a new Gary Adult School at another site the following year. In the original campus' final days, students attended classes in portable buildings because the vintage structure was deemed unsafe.

In a recent letter to Tampa City Council, Simon cited a 2006 appraisal which stated part of the first- and second-floor ceilings had collapsed due to a leaky roof. The report also noted standing water in classrooms and hallways and buckling wood floors, and stated the structural integrity of the building was compromised.

When the sale was approved in 2007 for about $331,000, school district records documented additional roof leaks and missing copper - apparently stolen.

"The school board neglected this building for years," Costantino said.

In response, schools spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said it did not make sense to spend money on a building the school system no longer needed.

City officials said Friday's hearing was needed to address public safety and health issues. They asked the hearing master to fine Simon $1,000 a day if he missed the 15-day deadline, asserting it was the owner's responsibility to maintain his building.

Simon said he has spent more than $100,000 on the site's upkeep. He and his son mow the grass, he said.

"This building went up for public bid three times," Simon said. "The city and historic preservation commission did not bid. Nobody wanted it."

He estimated it would have cost nearly $5 million to completely restore it - before much of the building collapsed this week.

"I bought the building with good intentions and get insulted," Simon said. "It's like I'm the bad guy. It's like taking your 95-year-old father to the hospital and he dies, and you want to blame the hospital and the doctor."

Hearing Master Michael Mashke said Simon made "a lot of good points." Mashke also said city officials might be overstating safety concerns because the building is surrounded by a locked chain-link fence.

Mashke cut by half the potential fine suggested by city officials, but concluded Simon has not done enough to address the code infractions.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 835-2103 or ksteele@tampatrib.com. Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 835-2103 or ksteele@tampatrib.com.

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