"Try a graphic arts, Web design, casual clothing, music and recording studio business. Oh, and it offers medical uniforms, too.
"Believe it or not, these industries are so connected," said Urban Design co-owner Joseph Licari. Perhaps with most of that stuff. But medical uniforms?
"Well, that just happens to be a real moneymaker for us," Licari said.
Urban Design happens to be an honest reflection of the backgrounds of its four owners. Licari comes from the Web design and signmaking industry. Karolyn Findley is the graphic artist, and Peter McPherson is an event and music promoter. Their friend Mike Desamouras just happens to have an established medical uniform and scrubs business. He also runs the music shop, which consists mostly of local hip hop and rhythm and blues titles.
As for why this location was chosen, Licari said, "This whole corner has been dead for years. We don't care about the Riverwalk, we don't care about 20 more high-rises downtown. We want our neighborhood to look better. The people need this kind of progress so they don't feel left behind by all the progress that's happening downtown."
It's phone is: 231-2536.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE PUT GLASS IN THE FRONT OF THE BUILDING. THE BUILDING LOOKS GREAT! JUST TAKE OFF THE CRAZY PLYWOOD.
ReplyDeleteAnd U R financing this how?
ReplyDeleteI guess you could say it would be paid by their clients. They want business, they have to invest in their business. (It's the way the world works) Or if they are renting, they demand that the landlord fix it up. He is making a profit, he should invest it back into the "company". As residents of the neighborhood, I think we become complacent and allow some of the business to get away with a lot. Since the city of Tampa does not inspect/patrol the area, they never know what is going on. 99% of our problems on the commercial corridor could be eliminated if the city would do their jobs.
ReplyDeleteanon 10:44
ReplyDeletehow is the finiancing any of your business?
Time once again to play armchair business owner, Let's get ready for the lightning round!
ReplyDeleteHow are the windows or the financing any of ya'lls bidness?
Maybe it was nothing more than an exppression of support for the revitalization and beautification trend. Why does it always have to be "none of somebody's business" ?!
ReplyDeleteBoarded up buildings are ugly and uninviting. A business can, within the law and code, do what they want. Potential customers can have whatever opinion they want.
Take the comment, despite all-caps yelling, at face value and move on. The important thing is we have a new "seminole heights" style business in the area that will likely have a positive impact. Good for all of us.
Hello Seminole Heights! I must say I wish I was made aware of this site sooner. A friend of mine had mentioned that there was some buzz of our business venture here and I should take the time to read it. I would like to thank those who made some great suggestions about the windows. I AGREE! We want to open it up. There is just this one problem. You see, we do not own the building. Even if we did own the building, permits are required, which means contractors are required, which means a great deal of preparation is required prior to modifying the building. These modifications are part of our future plans along with cleaning up the lot between 4007 and 4011. Unfortunately, it is more important to cater to our current clients and seek out new clients prior to undertaking additional expenses. Predicated that our landlord accepts our proposed modifications, we hope to start the process of qualifying contractors in late September. Currently we are researching the municipal requirements and discussing concepts.
ReplyDeleteSince we're speaking of exterior modifications, I would like to share our current plan for our North Elevation [Ida St.] and the South Elevation. [In-between bldgs] Both of these walls are being made available to local artists who are up to the challenge of a large canvas. Yes, we're even paying for the paint. Here's the catch. The "Ida" wall must communicate a positive portrayal of life and be politically neutral. The south wall is a substantially smaller canvas since we are only planning on utilizing the front portion of the building. However this wall is open to any type of art. Again, no proposals should imply political alignment. Everyone wishing to submit their artwork and concepts are welcome to mail them or drop them off.
We feel this will be a great opportunity for a few lucky artists to get a huge canvas to display their art. You can also stop in and get a scale elevation drawing of our building to sketch your concept on. We have not set a final deadline for entries as of yet but we all agree that it should be sometime in June.
Again, my sincere thanks to the wonderful people who have supported us so far! I will try my best to keep regular updates posted here. In the mean time, I wish everyone the best but I must return to my work.
Thanks again!
Joseph M. Licari
Urban Design, LLC