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Blaze Guts Tampa Bay Hardware

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By RAY REYES and RICHARD MULLINS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 9, 2008

TAMPA - A Sunday evening fire gutted Tampa Bay Hardware, the oldest hardware store in the city and a mainstay of the Seminole Heights neighborhood for decades.

The three-alarm blaze collapsed the roof of the single-story, barnlike building at 5511 N. Nebraska Ave. and engulfed 85 percent of the structure, Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Bill Wade said.

Six ladder trucks responded shortly after 6 p.m. The store was closed, and no one was inside, officials said. No injuries have been reported, Wade said.

The fire closed Nebraska Avenue from just north of Hillsborough Avenue to East Powhatan Avenue.

About 500 people watched the flames from the street, and witnesses said the fire was so intense the heat could be felt from 100 yards away.

The fire is under investigation.

Tampa Bay Hardware opened in 1941. According to a Tribune story published May 22, the store's owner, Tom Roberts, bought the property in the early 1970s, a few years after Interstate 75 - now I-275 - cut Seminole Heights in two, causing families to move away and the neighborhood to wither.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920 or rreyes@tampatrib.com. Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com.

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