1920s house may have date with wrecking ball

A 1920s Victorian house that once was the office of former state Sen. James T. Hargrett Jr. appears headed for the scrap heap.

Barring a last-minute reprieve, it likely will be razed within the next few weeks to make way for a 15,000-square-foot medical clinic at 22nd Street and Osborne Avenue.

Councilman John Dingfelder last week asked the city's East Tampa redevelopment staff to get at least two estimates within the next week or so on the cost of relocation to the nearest city-owned lot.

Officials with St. Peter Claver's School recently withdrew a request to attempt to move the house to its campus off Nebraska Avenue. Ed Johnson, the city's East Tampa redevelopment manager, told council members that school representatives had decided the move was too costly.

But Dingfelder said it was tragic that East Tampa, which has few historical structures, could lose the house.

Hargrett, who was the first black state representative and state senator to represent the Tampa area, bought the two-story building in the early 1980s. He consulted with preservationists Stephanie Ferrell and Jan Abel, who oversaw its award-winning preservation.

"It's possible there might be people out there who would be interested," Dingfelder said, adding that council members might be able to spread the word if Johnson can e-mail them the moving estimates. "If the staff won't do it then I'll call two movers," the councilman said.

Council Chairman Tom Scott and Councilwoman Gwen Miller said they could support seeking the estimates but would not support any use of East Tampa's property tax revenue to relocate the house.

"East Tampa absolutely does not have the money," Miller said.

Johnson said he would seek the estimates, but time is running out. Tampa Family Health Center, which is building the $4 million facility, is partially paying for construction with federal stimulus dollars and is under a 30- to 45-day deadline to get the project going. Clinic officials have started the demolition permit process, he said.

"They don't want anyone to think they are sitting on the project," Johnson said.

Clinic officials anticipate a 2010 opening for the facility.

Previously, Johnson reported to the council that state highway officials moved a two-story house at a cost of about $120,000.

More than 40 residents recently discussed the house's plight at an East Tampa Community Revitalization Partnership meeting. Suggestions to preserve the house included contacting Habitat for Humanity, using clients of nonprofit Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa to salvage recyclable materials for sale, and giving the nonprofit COACH Foundation an opportunity to find financing for relocating the house.

But in the end, faced with money and time constraints, they voted to allow Tampa Family Health Center to move forward with plans to tear down the house.

The partnership's vice chairwoman, Denese Meteye-James, told council members the partnership appreciates the city's efforts to save the house, but partnership members oppose spending revenue collected within East Tampa's special tax district.

"I do think we spent a good deal of time weighing our options," she said.