Sometimes a funny thing happens on the way to an architectural mishap. Questions are raised, plans are reconsidered, and eureka! Better design happens.
That’s the apparent outcome (so far) of a project that threatened to spoil one of the most distinctive streetscapes in Tampa: the three brief blocks of Grand Central Avenue.
When you enter Grand Central — not to be confused with the Grand Central condos in the Channel District or the Grand Central District in St. Pete — you know you’re someplace special. The mass of traffic heading toward downtown Tampa along Kennedy Boulevard speeds to the left, but you slow down because of the bumpety brick street and bear right. Snow Park’s four classical columns over a fountain offer a regal welcome to this small commercial center burnished with the patina of Hyde Park’s history.
Henry Plant, the magnate who brought the railroad to Tampa in 1891, built his fantastical hotel on the west bank of the Hillsborough River and cut a deal with the City of Tampa. He would make a $3 million investment in this sleepy fishing village if the town’s leaders would build a permanent bridge to replace the ferry connecting Hyde Park with downtown. The bridge completely awakened the west side, and homes, churches and businesses sprung up.
The Tampa Bay Hotel closed in 1930, a victim of the Depression, but Hyde Park retained its cachet as a fine neighborhood until the 1970s, when the Crosstown Expressway was constructed. This wall of concrete severed the northern portion of the neighborhood, Grand Central, from the area linked to Bayshore Boulevard. The area hit bottom when it formed part of the “Plasma Path” on Kennedy Boulevard between the temporary jobs office and the blood donor center, with rooming houses lodged in the formerly grand homes. The building that now houses the Oxford Exchange and Mise en Place was at the time referred to as “Spartan Arms,” an accurate assessment.
Fortunately, reinvestment has dramatically spruced up the street. Bill Stoeltzing transformed the Arms into the mixed-use office building we know now, whose stylish ground-floor tenants include Braisden Gallery as well as Mise and Oxford. Architect/developer Stephanie Ferrell, who was director of the Preservation Board when it was located there, designed and found funding for Snow Park, the smallest public park in the U.S.
Everyone who visits the Oxford Exchange agrees that the ambience of the place set a new standard for our town. Attention to design detail is visible elsewhere on the block, too; at the Punch Boxing studio next door, the door handle is a metal sculpture of a boxing glove.
Across the brick street edged with granite curbs and graced with towering live oaks stands the First Church of Christ Science with its impressive bank of stairs leading to a columned portico. The adjacent Coast Bicycle stand underscores the bike- and pedestrian-friendliness of the avenue.
Around the corner, the golden dome of the First Baptist Church gleams and children’s laughter spills from the church’s preschool, animating the shady sidewalk. These three blocks are an urban respite and a delight.
So what could threaten this enclave of urbanity? Mediocrity.
The Altman Development Group from Boca Raton has requested several key variances to build in a parking lot across the street from Mise, including the removal of three grand live oaks and the demolition of three contributing historic structures. Certainly these assets should be protected and valued. The reasons provided for the requests included “the constrained size of the parcel.”
The demolition and tree removal issues are all problematic, but my beef was the original design, which was lackluster and unworthy of this key location. MSA Architects from Miami presented a pedestrian-hostile, nondescript building that could be anywhere in Florida. Grand Central Avenue deserves decent-sized shade trees and decent-sized shops with windows allowing passersby to view something engaging, but MSA’s original plans indicated “lollipop” trees (skinny trunks with a small round top) and opaque walls with nothing going on.
Neighbors’ concerns spurred the inclusion, on the latest site plan, of two small retail spaces. And now it seems as if the critiques about design and landscaping are being addressed, too. A spokesperson for Altman shared the following news on Monday via email:
“The architects are designing the windows to match those across the street along the Grand Central building and Oxford Exchange facade,” wrote Andrea Zelman. “Also… the developer is going to be planting trees on site at a much higher caliper than is required by code (i.e. larger trees, rather than scrawny ones). They’ve also added a number of pedestrian amenities such as: 6-foot sidewalks, a public bike rack and bike fix-it station (w/pump), benches, ground floor apartments that open out onto the street to create a true activated pedestrian experience, etc… In addition, the parking garage has been designed to provide parking… in an amount equivalent to or greater than what is provided on the site now.”
Sounds a lot better. But it’ll be important to remain vigilant as this project progresses. Blake Casper, the Oxford Exchange developer who is opposing the proposed rezoning, sums it up: “Grand Central Avenue is where we take visitors to show off Tampa’s charm. Let’s not undermine that by allowing this mediocre building.”