HCC reaches accord with Ybor City preservationists

Ybor City preservationists have reached a tentative settlement with Hillsborough Community College aimed at ending a dispute over a new student services building.

Under the proposed deal, which goes before HCC's board of trustees today for a vote, the college will reduce the proposed height of the building from four to three floors, and agree to adhere to the city's building codes for future expansion projects at the Ybor campus.

In exchange, members of the Cuban Club and other property owners who objected to the building's ultramodern design have agreed to drop their opposition to the project.

Because the new designs will exceed the 45-foot height limit for YC-3 zoning - a special code for HCC's Ybor campus - the college will still need a variance, but only for two feet.

The previous designs had called for a four-story, 63.5-foot building.

"Ideally, we would have preferred to have gone with a four-story building," said HCC spokeswoman Ashley Carl said. "But we are trying to be good neighbors in Ybor."

Carl said the construction was halted as the contractor was completing the concrete and steel frame for the third floor, so the college won't be forced to dismantle the building.

Work on the $14 million project ground to a halt this month after HCC officials learned that plans for the partially constructed building, on the corner of East Palm Avenue and Republica de Cuba Avenue, were about 15 feet taller than permitted by city codes.

HCC blamed the project's architect, HuntonBrady of Orlando, for the costly mistake.

The state-funded community college ran into opposition earlier this year from Ybor City preservationists over the contemporary design of the 63,000-square-foot building.

Members of the Cuban Club, across from the HCC campus, wanted the college to follow the national historic district's guidelines so the building blends in with the neighborhood.

HCC officials argued that state law exempts them from local historical guidelines.

After halting the project, HCC officials unveiled new blueprints that incorporated many of the design changes sought by Ybor preservationists; including replacement of a glass wall façade with pained windows and the pre-cast concrete exterior with blonde brick.

Carl said those changes will be included in the building's final designs, which under the terms of the settlement will be reviewed by the city's historic preservation department. There were no estimates on how much the changes might cost.

The HCC Board meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the school's district offices on Davis Island.