Leroy's Develops?
The same Michael Canning column that talked about Viva La Frida's also talked about Leroy's 4x4.
"STARBUCKING FOR PROGRESS: The April 7 opening of the Seminole Heights Starbucks could rank with the advent of the trolley and the interstate as the most pivotal events in the neighborhood's history.
Now residents are waiting to see if the collateral development that often accompanies Starbucks stores will spark on Seminole Heights' blighted thoroughfares. If it does, ground zero likely will be Leroy's 4X4 Automotive Center, next door to Starbucks at Hillsborough and Central avenues."
19 comments:
I kind of like Leroy's 4x4. The are a role model to all of the other car repair shops in the area. It is always clean and they are always very, very helpful to anyone that needs assistance.
So which car repair place would be the anti-role model?
Not sure if I would consider Leroy's a role-model car repair establishment. Word has it, Leroy's was selling used cars on the lot that is now the Starbucks location.
it does rank with the interstate which
caused many homes to be razed, many people to be displaced and literally cut the neighborhood in half.
A Panera next door to what? I smell BS on this comments page.
The developers that built the Starbucks specialize in converting old gas stations. They mentioned a plan, when Starbucks hadn't even broken ground yet, to purchase Leroys and turn it into an eatery. Firehouse Subs was what they mentioned then, though a Panera would be similar.
It would do well if for no other reason than there aren't many non-burger lunch places in Seminole Heights. Demand is there. It might also increase parking for Starbucks, which apparently is needed.
Leroy's has been for sale for quite some time now.
Bring on Panera. They have great soup and bread. It's a healthy alternative to comfort food.
I went to McDonalds on Florida this morning and noticed there was plastic mesh around the perimeter of the lot. The drive through attendants told me they are closing the store today. It's going to be torn down and a brand new McDonalds is to be built. Though I try not to support fast food for health reasons, I am excited to see what design the new McDonalds is going to take.
the design will be the same thing they have. There is no incentive for them to change - look at the one that was rebuilt on Hills east of 15th several years ago - same building just bigger.
I do not know about that. Several months ago, I saw them presenting an idea to the City Council/Planning Commission about a whole new building with a historical flair to it, however, it was going to be across the street. Now that they are not relocating it may be the same design, it may be some more interesting. All across the Bay they are redoing the McDonalds to make them more attractive. Have you seen the McDonalds in Ybor?, it's very nice. Either way, it's going to be an improvement over what is there.
Wasn't the Starbucks supposed to incorporate historical architecture influences? The plans that I saw on the Planning Commission resembled the green building on Fl and Obsorne. Did this get totally changed as later meetings were held?
I think that the anti-role model for car repair would be Richard's at FL and Hillsborough. They ripped me off big time, on my brakes, no less! I had a brake fluid leak after they did the brakes and they supposedly couldn't find out why. Another place (Northgate Shell at FL & Waters) was able to fix the problem. Beware Richard's!
The Starbucks plans I've seen (and I've seen ones that never were presented to the city) never were two stories like the green building on Osborne. The one they built, which isn't quite done yet, looks like the plans approved by the ARC and shown before the city.
The ARC wasn't happy with the placement of the building, but other than that, they approved its appearance.
regarding the McDonalds in Ybor - that location is goverened by the Barrio Latino - Ybor's answer to ARC - that is the type of building that you get when the historic guidelines are upheld and there is sane progress made in negoiations with the developers - not "charging the ARC castle with torches and burn them out" so the developer doesn't abandon the forlorn, forgetten neighborhood and then end up with a generic mismash of historic details that has no context to the neighborhood but DAMN we got us a fancy big (little) box STARBUX! Do you think that Ybor was a better location for McDonalds than somewhere in our neighborhood- It's all about interstate access.
ARC gave up fighting because they saw logical was out the window and the developer was going to go to city council to override any decision made by ARC if it did not go their way. The developer was not leaving and the neighborhood ends up getting the shaft with all those $$$$ going back to corporate and not to local businesses - ok maybe a few token coffees donated to the PTA once a year - yeah for neighborhood support while they suck us dry!!!
But overall the store doesn't look anything like the one in New Tampa - they changed the tile color on the inside nor will it look like the newly approved freestanding location in the Publix parking lot at Gandy - same floorplan though - ours is unique and special because it is in the historic district and ARC "forced" the developer to break the mold - BS!
I'm really sick of all this kvetching about the Starbucks. It's doing good business *in our neighborhood* so apparently the neighborhood was ripe for a Starbucks, like it or not. And don't tell me that all those cars in the parking lot are from outside Seminole Heights, either. One.single.business doesn't mean the 'death of the neighborhood' and, no, that ONE BUSINESS is NOT turning our area into a homogenous suburb. I'm sure New Tampa has street after street of BUY HERE PAY HERE used car lots. Right?
Local places are great, but they rarely have the capital to anchor a commercial district turn-around like we need in this area. Life is about compromises and a compromise was made with Starbucks. It doesn't mean that future developers get the same deal. If all you anti-Starbucks people want to get in a fit about something, how about getting in a fit about the chain-linked car lots that are making it a hazard to drive in parts of our neighborhood.
Anyone that thinks the McDonalds in Ybor is a "win" hasn't really spent the time to eat there.
Make sure to use the drive-thru window and see just how "great" this design is. The lane to enter the drive-thru is also the lane to EXIT. Yeah... you have to weave through other cars waiting to get in. It's a horrid, confusing, and dangerous situation.
But the various Anonymous posters don't really care about that and neither did the Bario Latino or the ARC. The posters are just more wound up over a corporate coffee business and any excuse to get upset over it will do.
When they start protesting the real corporate badguys in the neighborhood it'll be easier to take them seriously.
Barrio Latino and ARC would have nothing to do with the entry/exit or the placement of the drive-through - that would be dealt with through the city transportation department requirements and code requirements. Barrio and ARC deal with design or addition of new construction in the historic neighborhoods. ARC and Barrio make decisions based on the guidelines written by and with the neighborhoods that are governed.
Most recent anonymous commenter,
During one of the many ARC meetings held regarding Starbucks, Del Acosta mentioned that "they" helped the McDonalds developer come up with the drive-thru design. This was done in order to have the drive-thru restaurant front on 22nd street, just as they wanted Starbucks fronted on Hillsborough Ave. Del made this comment when the neighborhood raised safety concerns with having Starbucks sit right on Hillsborough Ave. Although the McDonalds is very attractive, it has an unused patio area at the front of the restaurant (because it is too noisy and too close to speeding cars) and a dangerous drive-thru pattern.
I made the comment about the Ybor McDonalds last week and about the one on Florida being torn down. I don't frequent McDonalds so I can not speak about its traffic problems/design. But driving past it, it catches my eye, it's a nice building to look at, unlike most of the businesses and buildings along Florida and Nebraska. The McDonalds on Florida may be the same design but I can hope that it will hold a little more architecture interest. And I am glad that the STARBUCKS is here, good or bad, it's here and I go to it regularly. I love the way that corner looks now. I drive by and am delighted not to see another vacant and dingy lot full of concrete and weeds.
anotheranon poster:
You are correct - Barrio Latino assisted in the design via the guidelines written for the Ybor historic district and also to assist the developer to fit the building on the lot and get parking and drive-through requirements to fit - weather they work in reality or not is a department of transportation bone to pick - not Barrio or ARC. If historic district guidlines call for businesses to be set at the sidewalk then that is the dictate that the Barrio Latino and ARC would work from. Neither ARC or Barrio will ever tell a developer what to build -just assist with the historic nature of the building proposed- their guidance is based on the guidelines written for the specific neighborhood. Take a stroll to the library on Central and look at the guidelines that were written for the neighborhood that note commercial buildings should be set at the sidewalk. Again, parking spots, driveway widths and placement of drive through lanes are all directed by the city of Tampa transportation department.
Personally, I think that an outdoor patio that faced the neighborhood on the opposite side of Starbucks would have been more friendly than beind trapped between Hillsborough and the building. There would be less road noise bouncing off the building and definatly less toxic fumes to inhale.
All that being said - the building - bad placement or not is better than shrimp salesmen and used cars for sale from Leroy's 4 x 4
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