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Fire Damage Dulls Ybor Corner

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By ELLEN GEDALIUS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 27, 2008

TAMPA - A historic Ybor City building that was the focus of a preservation fight after it caught fire 20 months ago looks much the same as it did in the days immediately following the blaze.

At the bustling corner of Seventh Avenue and 22nd Street, the building - what's left of it - remains vacant and covered in a green tarp, though part of the netting is falling down.

If you peek through, you see weeds, dirt and a pile of bricks rather than signs of progress.

"I don't think anybody thought it would be sitting here for a year and a half," said Vince Pardo, head of the Ybor City Development Corp. "It is unsightly and it is at one of the major crossroads of Ybor City."

Ybor City business owners and Tampa officials want to see the building - which some fought so hard to preserve - redeveloped. But the building owner said last week he had no immediate plans.

"There are no new updates, given the market," building owner Andre Callen said. "We have to figure out which direction to go. We're just waiting and seeing for the market to restabilize, which it should do shortly."

Callen, of H.I. Development, declined to elaborate. H.I. Development generally focuses on hotels.

The Ybor City Task Force asked the city's code enforcement department this month to inspect the property to see whether there are any violations. Code enforcement found no new violations, director Jake Slater said.

On a Sunday night in November 2006, a five-alarm fire broke out at 2201 E. Seventh Ave. No one was injured, and the fire was ruled an arson. An adjacent building was deemed unfit for human habitation.

An antique furniture store called Le Chateau had operated out of the ground floor. The second story was mostly vacant but slated for refurbishing.

The back wall of the building collapsed, and demolition of the remaining structure appeared imminent. But Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena, along with then-Councilwoman Mary Alvarez, started talking to preservationists, all calling for a reprieve.
Mayor Pam Iorio said Callen could have 72 hours to present a plan to save the building or get a permit to bulldoze it. Ultimately, a large portion of the second floor was demolished, but the first floor was saved.

The building's first floor is thought to date to about 1910, said Dennis Fernandez, the city's historic preservation manager. The second floor may have been added in 1916.

The Masons met there for years before the antiques store moved in.

Richard Gonzmart, president of the Columbia Restaurant, takes an up-close look at the building every day because his historic restaurant is just across the street.

"It's an eyesore," Gonzmart said. "Here you are sitting in Florida's oldest dining room, but you have this structure that looks like it's been bombed."

He said he understood the desire to preserve the building but wishes the owner would either come up with a plan or do a study saying why the building can't be saved.

"I respect the owners, I respect the city's stance, but, gosh, something needs to be done for the sake of the historic district."

The building is in the heart of Ybor City, a well-known historic district. The building is at the corner of a major truck route to the Port of Tampa, but when the Interstate 4/Selmon Crosstown Expressway connector is completed in a few years, truck traffic will ease up on 21st and 22nd streets.

Tom Keating, head of the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce, said he hopes the building will be turned into a boutique or cuisine hotel.

Pardo would like to see retail on the first floor and offices or residential space on the second.

Saul-Sena said she is optimistic the building will be redeveloped and that she has faith in Callen.

Fernandez, the city's historic preservation manager, said his division, as recently as three weeks ago, sent the building owner information on applying for a low-interest loan through the preservation trust fund. Fernandez said he hasn't heard back from Callen.

Pardo said he had talked to the owner some time ago about expedited permitting.

"We're willing to sit down and work up any incentives we can," Pardo said.

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

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