Proposed rail complex could be catalyst for development

Tampa Tribune
Sunday, July 25, 2010

By TED JACKOVICS
tjackovics@tampatrib.com

Someone looking for the future site of Tampa's high-speed rail station can follow the arrow on a Morgan Street sign: Load & Unload Inmates Only.

It's a reminder of the county jail demolished on land that is destined to become part of an 8.34-acre transportation center that officials hope will be a catalyst to redevelop a hardscrabble fringe of downtown.

By early 2015, when high-speed trains are expected to begin running hourly between Tampa, Lakeland and Orlando, the area will lose a private investigation firm, a closed Jamaican restaurant, a hazardous-chemical waste company and a 50-year-old blueprint company.

Along with the old jail site, those businesses will make room for what local officials anticipate will evolve into a high-speed and light-rail terminal adjoining a contemporary bus transfer station built in 2003.

Officials expect Tampa's new rail station to become a game-changer well beyond its transportation role.

"Nothing like this has ever been built in America," said Mark Huey, Tampa's economic and urban development administrator. "This will be the first high-speed rail in America."

Because of this, there is no other U.S. city's experience from which to draw. New rail stations in European cities have become hubs for commercial development, but most have been built to accommodate existing local, light-rail transit and regional high-speed service.

Tampa's plan is the reverse, with high-speed plans scheduled to begin service within five years. Light-rail intracity lines would begin three years later, pending county voter approval of a sales tax this fall.

Nonetheless, city and business officials are confident the station will inspire investment and development.

"Every large European city has development (along with) its transportation infrastructure," said Christine Burdick, president of the Tampa Downtown Partnership. "This is the beginning of that for us."

Burdick said her group has heard of interest in development opportunities within quarter-mile and half-mile rings of the station. Two of the inquiries involve proposed housing developments in addition to the nearby 30-acre Encore urban redevelopment project, a proposed mixed-use complex on the site of the former Central Park Village public housing project.

Bigger picture

Huey's staff has goals for development, including office, hotel-residential and retail projects. The city is working on a comprehensive plan amendment to lay the groundwork for land uses near stations for all forms of rail transportation.

In addition, Tampa intends to improve Perry Harvey Park on North Orange Avenue, devise ways for pedestrians to reach the Tampa Riverwalk from the rail station and support redevelopment of Franklin Street north of Interstate 275 by creating a welcome setting beneath the freeway.

"It is going to shape downtown development for years to come. We want to get the maximum redevelopment impact from the station," Huey said.

Nazih Haddad, chief operating officer for Florida Rail Enterprise at the Florida Department of Transportation, agrees.

"You have to think big," said Haddad, DOT's longtime champion of high-speed rail. "This can bring something special to the city."

Plans for Tampa's high-speed terminal initially will be modest, with about $20 million in federal money expected to be designated to start the structure.

That's out of $100 million likely to become available to build the five Florida high-speed stations in Tampa, Lakeland and Orlando, state officials said.

Tampa's station will be built incrementally, said Kristen Carson, a DOT spokeswoman.

"As part of the high-speed rail project, we will build the shell for the intermodal station but with minimum requirements to accommodate only high-speed rail. Additional parts will be built later to accommodate other transportation facilities such as light rail."

First piece of plan

After the first phase of the station is built, the track is in place and train equipment purchased, the concessionaire that wins the contract to operate Florida's high-speed rail line will oversee station additions such as shops and restaurants.

City officials are aware of additional opportunities if county voters approve a 1-cent sales tax to support local light rail, which eventually could draw travelers from Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Sarasota, Hernando and Citrus counties.

More land would be needed should light rail be approved. The state also is considering acquiring 23 more parcels along the downtown corridor of the high-speed trains, plans that remain in flux.

Sharks circling

Those with businesses would have to move or face possible takeover of their property through eminent domain if they do not accept DOT's offers.

"We're not sure if the Florida transportation department is interested in our property, but we got one letter from them advising us not to get involved with lawyers, at least not before they give us a bid," said Bill Gietzen, founder of the Gietzen & Associates private investigative firm, which is on the proposed station site.

"This ain't my first rodeo. I know what the prospects are here," said Gietzen, who turned down a $375,000 offer for his property three years ago.

He learned of the station plans after tracking down a surveyor who left markers in his parking lot. Later, he tossed out an apparent land speculator who had introduced himself as having FBI ties - not the shrewdest approach in talking with someone whose wall decor includes police badges.

Gietzen has thrown away 30 to 40 unsolicited letters from lawyers seeking to represent his wife and daughter - who run the investigative firm these days - in a potential eminent-domain case.

Although Gietzen stands to gain from the station if property negotiations go well - "I'll open a hot dog stand here if they don't," he said with a smile - he sees improvements helping the city.

"This isn't the prettiest part of the town, but if they add light rail to high-speed rail, along with the HART terminal that's kind of classy, this station and the area could turn out real well," Gietzen said.

There has been plenty of enthusiasm about station plans among business groups, including the Tampa Downtown Partnership, the Uptown Council and the Tampa Bay Partnership, along with members of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

About four blocks south of the station site, architect Stephanie Ferrell of Ferrell & Associates restored a 100-year-old Arlington Hotel that's a keystone of a gentrified segment of Franklin Street.

"I think the station could have a very good impact on the neighborhood," said Ferrell, who specializes in historical preservation and how it can fit with new construction.

"The point to be asked is how this station can become not only wonderfully functional but a piece of architecture we and others admire," she said.

Ferrell said architects should be up to the challenge of starting to design with limited funding for a station that is likely to be expanded with more transportation along with other uses.

"You know that in your planning," she said. "The point to be asked is how to create design excellence."

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