Talk about historic. That was the unveiling of the snazzy new Tampa Bay History Center that overlooks Garrison Channel across from Harbour Island.
*No cost overruns or design overhauls to delay matters. Barely a year after ground-breaking, the three-story, 60,000-square-foot museum is up and visitor-ready. Only minor details remain to be addressed.
*No political infighting or posturing. It was textbook collaboration among the city of Tampa, Hillsborough County and the private sector. Petty parochialism was relegated to the ash heap of local history for this $52-million project.
*No venue has the charge or wherewithal to better remind us all who live here that we have much more in common than conflict. This is our collective history, and it’s critically important — for the Tampa Bay area is home to so many who have relocated here. A sense of identity, which helps regional residents work together in common purpose, is imperative for meaningful Bay Area progress. From mass transit to high-tech recruitment to tourism.
Before there was a Jamestown or a Plymouth landing, there were Panfilo de Narvaez and Hernando de Soto exploring parts of present-day Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties.
*No problem with energy efficiency – in an area where the concept and its implementation is still a work in progress. The TBHC facility is cutting edge. Another historic precedent: It is the first Hillsborough County-owned, LEED-certified “green” building.
And if historical exhibits, icons, galleries and interactivity – including European explorers, Seminole tribes and Florida cowmen, as well as railroad tycoons, phosphate shippers and Cuban cigar rollers — aren’t enough, there’s also the Columbia Café, a destination in its own right.