Sunday, March 19, 2006

Rumors

I have heard that the Log Cabins (just South of the Dollar Store) on Nebraska is being sold to a developer who will be building places to live in and some stores/shops.

Posted by David Scott Banghart at 3/19/2006 09:57:00 PM

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

is your source as reliable as the one who mentioned Cappys move to Seminole Heights? I wish they would get their facts straight before they spread the info.

3/19/2006 11:37 PM
David Scott Banghart said...

According to another reader (Wolf) as posted in a prior article

"We called and they said they were moving, but they are actually moving to MacDill or something. However, they did say that they are trying to start a franchise and that they might also be opening one up in Seminole Heights."

So that rumor was not necessarily false.

3/20/2006 12:13 AM
Anonymous said...

are you speaking of live oak cabins? if so. boo!!

3/20/2006 7:49 PM
Anonymous said...

I have always thought that the existing buildings would serve nicely as a antique mall or collection of little boutique stores. The Live Oak Cabins were one of the first, if not THE first, motel that served the tourists visiting Sulphur Springs. I believe the 17 cabins on the property were built in 1918.

Is there something we can do to save them?

3/20/2006 7:56 PM
Anonymous said...

only in tampa would such cool things be torn down... maybe its
can be a cvs or starbucks.

3/20/2006 8:20 PM
Anonymous said...

Actually since I got the story of the sale from the agency that sold the property.
The cabins will be going as will the car lot beside it. The buyer's reportedly plan to put in townhouses and retail on Nebraska.
Also, Hyde Park Awning property has been sold, the new owner...a mortgage company. No word if they are planning to convert the property to a Mortgage office. The property includes the quad apprtment building behind the shop.

3/20/2006 11:41 PM
Anonymous said...

The Log Cabin property is one of the very few on Nebraska in Seminole Heights with enough space to develop something large. It goes all the way back to the freeway.

I'm not happy about losing the cabins, as they are unique. However, I am quite happy about losing the sexual offenders that lived there.

Higher density living and some real shop space are desperately needed in the Hampton Terrace area of Nebraska.

I just hope we don't end up with a strip mall.

3/21/2006 9:26 AM
AngelSil said...

I, too, really like the log cabins but I also realize that we live with 3 of the major thoroughfares of Tampa and the push is going to be for retail space for 'core' services rather than boutique shops, etc =/

As for anonymous #3, you're crazy if you think this kind of thing only happens in Tampa. It happens *everywhere* in the U.S.

3/21/2006 10:43 AM
Anonymous said...

Complaining all the time about how ugly the Starbucks is, or how they are going to take down something and put in a CVS is fine really. I don’t like every corner having a CVS or Walgreen’s on it either, However it seems like a completely useless and whiny waste of time but fine have at it. . Either do something about it or move. You don’t like progress and want to live in a place with only small independent businesses? Move. No one is forcing you to live anywhere you don’t want. Move out to the boondocks or 1950 For my lack of nicety and a lack of a better way to put it stop your fucking whining.

3/21/2006 12:00 PM
Anonymous said...

When you have preservationists saying the cabins are too far gone..their too far gone. Change has to come. When the last prostitute leaves Nebraska, I fear someone will want to errect a marker to the storied history of the Nebraska strip and preserve the Ho-tel from which she worked.

In the early to mid-90's when I was running the hookers off of that section of Nebraska...when Friday night had a hooker on every corner. I hoped for change to arrive. It is slowly moving but the polar ice caps are melting faster!!!

3/22/2006 10:11 AM
Anonymous said...

Something worth noting, according to Dr Steve Gluckman, OSHNA's resident "preservationist", these cabins are older than nearly every home in Seminole Heights. They were errected in the teens as one of the first motor lodges to house Sulphur Springs tourists.

Dr Gluckman explained that they qualify for national historic register status.

Motor lodges like these are a significant part of American history. And while it is a run-down area now, Sulphur Springs was a nationally recognized destination at one point. Did you know it is very likely Sulphur Springs had the very first "malls" in the USA? That was torn down and "progress" replaced it with a huge parking lot, vacant bank building (church now?) and a dog track.

At one point Tampa had over 200 cigar factories. Only 26 remain. City Council just voted to allow the owners of historic buildings the right to opt-out of that status and alter them or tear them down as they see fit. 15 of the remaining 26 are planning to opt-out.

I'm all for progress and I believe property owners have rights, but I would hate to see our unique history, a history worth preserving, destroyed. For a look at what a city becomes when history is bulldozed down and newer/better/bigger rules the day, just go to Las Vegas. I have hope that the developer and the neighborhood can come up with a way to balance preservation with progress.

3/22/2006 12:24 PM
David Scott Banghart said...

Susan was talking to me about this and she wondered if there was a way to relocate them nearby, possibly with the developer's
help and use them as shops (Helen's suggestion) or studios. Or perhaps like the houses removed for the wall at Hillsborough, maybe residents could pick it up for free and move it into their backyard or lot.

3/24/2006 12:28 AM
Anonymous said...

I don't think anyone should avoid protecting a potential landmark just because City Council is shilling for developer cash before an election.

The process takes some time and once the elections are over these sorts of things often reverse.

I know the council said, for example, that while landmark buildings could opt out, homes in landmark districts cannot. A) seems like a double standard--developers can opt out but other types of owners cannot? B) A strong push to create the Hampton Terrace local historic district can cross Nebraska Avenue and meet up with the existing district and thus cover the cabins and the other significant structures in that area. Then they are in a "district" and covered without option.

3/24/2006 11:33 AM
Anonymous said...

I know the survey done for Hampton Terrace does not include any commercial properties because 1)there are no historic commercial properties that face Nebraska that would fall within the district and 2) the proposed local designation would focus on residential which would thereby sidestep issues inherent in redeveloping commercial properties ie) see StarBucks, Viva's and Elizabeth's day spa.

The majority of the housing stock that falls between Nebraska and the interstate is considered non-contributing via age or bastardization so it would not help the national district to become a local by including this area. The overlay (when it works) would provide some level of protection regarding those residential properties. Quite honestly mixing apples and oranges does not make it easy to be effective in creating guidelines. If the commercial historic stock was there like Ybor we would be having a whole different conversation but there isn't so we are not.

3/24/2006 2:24 PM
Anonymous said...

What do we really want in this neighborhood. Is it about preserving a solid core residentially. Is it about having viable commercial areas? Is it about trotting out preservation only when it serves the interests of certain members of the OSHNA board? Is the logic to trash the ARC because yuppiedom wants $4 coffee but use preservation as a shield against anything lacking snob appeal? The little shacks have been sitting there decaying for decades, now that somebody might want to develop something that could serve the community there is a sudden interest in forcing a redeeming value on what you did give a crap about 2 weeks earlier.

3/25/2006 2:39 AM
Anonymous said...

eyes rolled upwards, you are the one that should move if you want a neighborhood that resembles every other neighborhood you move. we are doing something it is people like you who want to change it to something else. if retail development mean so much you move. why should people who move to a area because, they like living in a historical area constantly have to fight to keep it? why not nuy a car lot and put up townhouses there? PROGRESS DOES NOT MEAN DESTROYING THINGS.

3/26/2006 4:49 PM
AngelSil said...

On the other hand, progress also doesn't mean keeping things 'just as they are' just for the sake of status quo. What date should we keep Seminole Heights permanently set to? 1930? 1950? How about 1990? That was a nice year.

I don't think neighbors who desire some retail development should have to move to New Tampa. If you think that retail development and a historical district are incompatible, then perhaps it is YOU who are confused. The reality is that a viable neighborhood will have a strong commercial AND residential component.

3/26/2006 7:53 PM
Anonymous said...

Anonymous said:

"The majority of the housing stock that falls between Nebraska and the interstate is considered non-contributing via age or bastardization so it would not help the national district to become a local by including this area."

This is factually incorrect. Part of the existing local historic district on the West side of 275 actually crosses the freeway and covers several blocks between Nebraska and I-275.

Additionally, the city made the suggestion that Hampton Terrace's local boundaries be extended to cover all the homes in the Nebraska, Hanna, 15th, Hillsborough "box". Apparently the percentage of contributing homes is not as limiting for local designation as Federal. Not to mention that many of the homes that were not contributing when Hampton Terrace was first reviewed have aged enough to qualify.

Nebraska Hardware, the "log cabins", and several other structures on Nebraska between Hillsborough and Hanna are good candidates for coverage.

Whether or not we ought to is a very good question that deserves reasoned, friendly debate.

3/26/2006 11:13 PM
Anonymous said...

Thank you shawn, for intelligent comments. I am a believer in trying to preserve the log cabins, and giving them historical designation. run down or not, they are something that gives our neighborhood character (and i don't mean that euphemistically) and a glimpse into the history of florida and tampa, and the role that seminole height and sulphur springs played. regardless of their future function, i can see them being mourned like the sulphur springs arcade - and hindsight revealing their demolition to be a mistake all around. just because they currently are housing sex offenders doesn't change their historical role - i understand that the Hotel Floridan became a low-rent, run-down hotel before it closed, but the focus is now on restorating it to it's original grandeur. not exactly apples to oranges, but the premise is the same as far as original function and current function.....

3/27/2006 2:07 PM

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