Category: Tampa Bay

Forbes’ annual ranking of 40 major metro areas in their attractiveness to young professionals was not kind to Tampa. The Big Guava finished 40th. There were several factors, but none bigger than demographics. It’s skewed older. When it comes to the 20-35 crowd, Tampa still can’t touch the competition.

So, what do you say if you’re Deanne Roberts, one of the founders of the young professionals-oriented Creative TampaBay and a former chairwoman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce?

“We are ground zero for boomer retirement,” points out Roberts, the president of Ybor City-based Roberts Communications. “And I’ve got all these young professionals saying they don’t like that. We don’t want this community to be that. What can we do?

“Well, we can get over that old-versus-young stereotype,” underscores Roberts. “Many of the things that older demographic wants are the same things that young professionals want. Affordable housing, mass transit and interesting leisure activities – from museums to the performing arts to restaurants.”

Roberts points out that the boomer generation is a new breed of retiree: much more affluent and involved than predecessors. And that includes business opportunities.

“Frankly, we want to capitalize on it – not bemoan it,” says Roberts. “We’ve been talking to the arts people. It’s important for our cultural institutions to tap into this. Think about re-tooling our programs and volunteer base. If our cultural institutions are healthier, then all the benefits also accrue to young people.

“If we’re ground zero for a new type of retiree,” emphasizes Roberts, “then we represent new business opportunities that young professionals can take advantage of. Any young professional with any entrepreneurial ability at all, what an opportunity this is – right in their backyard.”

Ray Chiaramonte is the assistant executive director of the Hillsborough Planning Commission, and Judy Lisi is the president/CEO of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. However disparate, their duties entail being attuned to the demands and wishes of residents and constituents.

They also have something else in common that mainly insiders only know. They both can carry a tune and even hold their own with those for whom singing is a day job.

At April’s inauguration of the mayor and city council, Lisi was called on to sing the National Anthem. At last month’s Tampa Downtown Partnership luncheon, Chiaramonte did likewise.

Not only are Chiaramonte and Lisi major Bay Area players, but each is also a star spangled regional resource.

Remember the speculation at play at the prospect of Joe Redner defeating Gwen Miller in their City Council run-off? They ranged from “what-the-hell, shake-up-the-establishment” scenarios to ultimate distraction to progressively green, smart growth advocacy.

But could anyone have imagined an assertive Gwen Miller? Talk about worst-case scenario. It transcends a major-market hub city merely having an inarticulate, issues-challenged chairperson presiding over its city council.

It’s apparent in the council’s new dynamic. Not all of Miller’s peers were supportive of her last candidacy, and Miller has neither forgotten nor forgiven. It manifested itself right away in skewed committee assignments and continues in a less-than-subtle, dismissive attitude. As if colleagues were obligated to show fealty to an embarrassment in their midst.

As to voters who weren’t supportive, well, they now have another reason to remain that way. With all the talk about budget-cutting – and Miller’s expressed reluctance to go along with the mayor’s request to slash council spending – she found a dubious priority. She ordered two flat-screen televisions — worth more than $1,000 — for her office and the city council receptionist.

It took Darrell Smith, Mayor Pam Iorio’s chief of staff, to save her from herself by talking her out of it – and suggesting that monitoring council meetings on a computer just might suffice during demanding fiscal times.

Miller, it would appear, should have been content with what her politically correct, euphemistic legacy had been prior to her recent re-election: “quiet” and “easy to lobby.”

In case you missed it, the I-4 corridor cities of Tampa and Orlando fared very well among the 379 U.S. metro areas rated by Moody’s Economy.com for their overall economic vitality. Tampa was 15th and Orlando 7th.

The bottom line seems obvious. Tampa’s growth in jobs and business in the professional services sector and a Bay Area unemployment rate of 3.3 percent more than offset turmoil in the real estate sector. For Orlando, it meant that an alarming murder rate doesn’t hurt as much as it should.

First the good news.

By all accounts, the sale and ultimate reincarnation of the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in West Tampa is proceeding, although hardly apace. It’s the nature of government property and attendant bureaucratic hoops. But it looks like the Heritage Square at the Armory group is on target to develop a project that would include a hotel, day spa, cafes, restaurants, boutiques and more.

The bad news is that this is the first choice for redevelopment. The back-up project is that of the Armory Partners Group of Tampa, who would build a video, film and sound studio and develop creative arts businesses. It would also include retail, a grocery store and apartments.

Tampa, ever mindful of the need to continually diversify its economy, is on the cinematic cusp of developing a more reliable and viable film industry. Lack of a studio complex, however, has long been a major governor on progress. The 522 N. Howard Ave. Armory property is centrally located and, at 10 acres, more than big enough to accommodate such a complex, as well as synergistic, arts-related businesses.

And in a quintessential working class neighborhood, a grocery store and affordable housing makes much more sense than a hotel, day spa and boutiques.

As with most writers, I’m an expert on nothing, an amateur on everything. That includes architecture.

I know what I like – classic – and what I don’t – contemporary. Enough of the Frank Lloyd Wrong knockoffs and monuments to marketing and ego. But, yes, I will certainly concede, the matter of taste really matters.

What I don’t think is so relative, however, is context. Does a project fit or is it an aesthetic wedgie? You know; you’ve seen them. The Super Dome that’s all too proximate to the French Quarter in New Orleans. That inverted pyramid on St. Petersburg’s classy waterfront. Faux Mediterranean Revival metastasizing all over South Tampa. A post-modern loophole in historic Hyde Park.

That’s why I think it might be significant – well, not irrelevant – that I really like the new contemporary design of the Tampa Museum of Art. And, truth be told, I had really wanted the retrofit at the old federal courthouse to work. And, yes, I really thought that $7-million Rafael Vinoly design was as cheesy as the “mother-of-all-carports” raillery was meant to make it seem.

The new $32.5-million, 68,000-square-foot TMA first phase, scheduled for completion in April 2009, is the architectural inspiration of Stanley Saitowitz of San Francisco. It will be sheathed in pierced aluminum and appear to shimmer from sunlight. Within its metal skin will be programmable LED lighting. It will play off of the sky and the water. The interior lobby will feature a two-story, hologram-like atrium. A landscaped roof will become a lush amenity. An outdoor sculpture garden will overlook the Hillsborough River.

Saitowitz didn’t make excuses for the “Beer Can” building or the Poe Garage or the Ashley Speedway. He simply plowed ahead with an animated vision. He called the riverfront site a “charged and amazing place” in his keynote address at last week’s annual Tampa Downtown Partnership luncheon. He presented a slide show that was top heavy with his urban-infill and city-scapes portfolio. “Integrate,” “blend” and “connect” – as in “into landscapes,” “with the environment” and “to nature” seemed his mantra.

His TMA model embodied his words. Mayor Pam Iorio, whose only stake in what happens on the riverfront is her legacy, was in full beam mode.

Saitowitz also said that he believed in “architecture as infrastructure.” It’s why, he acknowledged, that he typically designs buildings without parking. It’s his way of “fostering transportation” other than via automobile.

As if to underscore that point, one of Saitowitz’s TMA renderings shows the museum as a light-rail stop. Talk about context.

Talk about a vision.

Time was when going to a health club meant little more than an exercise in jogging, lifting weights and looking for a spotter. Well, it’s definitely not your father’s Spartan gym – or marketplace – any more.

From Bally Total Fitness to the local YMCA, more than 15,000 companies and non-profits are now soliciting a market of health-conscious consumers, not just the workout-warrior niche. It’s a $15-billion industry.

Sure, the racks of free weights and exercise equipment remain – but amid the cardio centers, bright colors, piped-in music, roving personal trainers, yoga classes and enough TVs for every Dow Jones compulsive and ESPN obsessive. And hardly atypical: saunas, tanning booths, baby-sitting accommodations, member-appreciation-day treats, spa packages, apparel lines and, increasingly, 24-hour access.

Not offering a sampling of the hottest fads and perks could be fiscally unwise in an ever-burgeoning market.

Exhibit A could be Tampa Bay Health & Fitness in north Tampa. It incorporates the Giovane Institute/Clinic Med Spa within a traditional club framework. Thus, under one eclectic roof, members can be found pumping iron, boxing (in an actual ring) and undergoing botox treatments, laser hair removal, hormone therapy and mesotherapy for fat and cellulite reductions.

For those wanting something more exotic than Pilates, there’s the popular Salsa class at The Athletic Club in Brandon or “urban rebounding,” offered at any of the Bally Clubs, which incorporates contemporary music and a trampoline. And probably the hottest group-fitness trend is “Zumba,” a combination of aerobics and international music. Shapes Total Fitness even has a “Zumba Gold” program for seniors.

“The health club business is great,” gushes Scott Coultas, the general manager of Tampa’s Harbour Island Athletic Club and Spa. “There’s no finish line.”

But there is a bottom line that is unforgiving of the competitively unfit.

“It’s all about membership retention,” explains Coultas. “It’s all about the ‘wow’ factor.” At HIAC, a fitness hybrid with about 2,500 (membership) sales units (including families), that means courts for tennis (clay), basketball, racquetball and squash, a swimming pool and a well-provisioned café. Plus a spa, where Sonya Dakar skin treatments range from green tea peels to “Visualift” eye treatments.

It also means ongoing marketing efforts that integrate year-round holiday and other themed socials with sophisticated direct mail campaigns and even overtures to the corporate community to pump up their workforces.

And then there are the basics – as well as the “sweet treats.”

“Sure, you want the latest equipment,” notes Coultas, “but it’s also as simple as keeping it clean and maintaining a friendly staff. Sometimes we role play, and out of that will come a ‘sweet treat,’ such as grabbing an umbrella and walking a member to his or her car when it’s raining.”

Over at Lifestyle Family Fitness, “user-friendly” is the member mantra at its 37 sites, including facilities in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Sarasota counties.

“Of course, you have to be on top of the industry, but often it’s the little things that help keep members,” underscores LFF founder Geoff Dyer. “Can you easily adjust the seat? Can you change the weight without getting out of the chair? Are the numbers and the instructional-sign letters big enough for an aging population?”

And then there’s the music – no minor matter. According to Dyer, LFF centers program more contemporary, up-tempo sounds later in the day. LFF also allows for more demographically-skewed markets.

“For example, in Seminole and Sarasota you’ll hear more ‘Oldies’ music,” points out Dyer. “Whereas, it’s up-tempo all day at (Tampa’s) Hyde Park, which is the youngest in the company. Music is certainly a big part of this business.”

And on a personal note, for those who skew the hot-bod demographic at Lifestyle’s Hyde Park Village facility, you just don’t want to leave home without your “Oldies.”

OK, so Trump is a towering, SimDagian disappointment, light rail still seems a light year away and downtown remains more potential than presence.

The last month, however, has seen two developments that ought to impress all but professional cynics. And we’re not even talking about the $2 million earmarked for the Riverwalk that went un-vetoed by Gov. Not Jeb. Or the imminent opening of a waterfront Malio’s. Or even the cachet of our very own IKEA store. Nor are we referencing (cue the drum roll) another downtown street converted to two-way.

After the gestation from hell, this city finally has a workable design and plan for a Tampa Museum of Art worthy of a major city. Additionally, Tampa is now primed to join the ranks of the metropolitan parvenu with its very own, five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel.

For anyone remembering the mother of all carports, that Rafael Vinoly-designed museum fiasco, the Stanley Saitowitz model seems a true work of, well, art. The $32.5-million, 68,000-square-foot, two-building first phase appears modern without being too stark, gimmicky or ego-centric – no minor contemporary feat.

The lobby, which is under the gallery level in the main building, will be transparent, thus highlighting — and sharing — the aesthetics inherent in a winding river and iconic minarets. Built-in, fiber-optic lights can be programmed to change colors at night, and the green rooftop will be lush and redolent with plants. An outdoor sculpture garden will overlook the Hillsborough River.

Tampa City Council member Linda Saul-Sena called it “ingenious” and “unique to our situation.” The way it will “play off the sky and the water,” said Saul-Sena, will create an “animated visual.”

No less impressive is the art of the deal.

This one has a viable business plan and a pay-as-you-go mantra for expansion – to 120,000 square feet. For that to happen, however, the private sector will have to step up in a way truly befitting big city ambitions. To that end, the unveiling of the Saitowitz model, the groundbreaking – set for early next year – and the probable pressing of Paul Wilborn into fund-raising, piano-playing mode are expected to accelerate the pitch to the public.

As to the Ritz-Carlton, it’s been no secret that the Bay Area has long pined for a five-star property to round out its convention and tourism appeal.

If Clearwater developer Sandip Patel finalizes negotiations, which are reportedly close, a Ritz-Carlton property would replace a razed Radisson Bay Harbor Hotel at Rocky Point on Old Tampa Bay. The two-towered, $300-million, mixed-use project would include 274 hotel rooms plus 184 residential units. Construction would begin in 2008.

Besides the star power of the Ritz-Carlton brand, such a totemic property would also represent a vote of confidence in the Bay Area. It would mean that the Tampa Bay market, never confused with a Naples or a Palm Beach, was dynamic enough to command $400-a-day rates.

Most little boys, arguably, don’t want to be poets when they grow up. James E. Tokley, however, comes pretty close.

At age three, he fell in love with the sound of words. He remembers the early epiphany at his grandmother’s side while she read to him in their rural Seaford, Del., home. He was captivated, he recalls, by the words “cantankerous cat” and fascinated by “rapscallion.” They were easy on the ear and fun to say.

He became a lifelong, voracious reader – and writer, including music.

Fast forward 44 years. It is 1996, and the former literature instructor at Delaware State University has been appointed Tampa’s first poet laureate by Mayor Dick Greco. Among his subsequent works: poems dedicated to the inaugurals of Mayors Greco and Pam Iorio as well as Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Last year Tokley’s poem “Leviathan” bedecked the side of the Park Tower in downtown Tampa where, at 63 feet by 45 feet, it became the largest poem ever produced and posted in the history of literature. Other prominent Tokley works have been featured in forums ranging from the National Urban League Conference to a White House Millennium traveling exhibit.

“What a special gift he has,” says Greco. “He sees things that others miss and then captures them.”

The “gift,” says Tokley, 58, is a byproduct of diligent research in pursuit of a “personal or historical anchor.” Next step: going to the mental mattresses for “word-thing associations and analogies.” Then he entreats The Muse for the first line.

“When I get it, that’s the hook,” he says. “Then the endorphins kick in, and I’m in a sea of images.” After numerous drafts, the process concludes with the “litmus test”: his wife Joanna, who’s no poetic pushover. Sometimes it’s love at first reading; otherwise, her criticism is prefaced with the euphemistic “It needs seasoning.”

While Tokley’s love affair with the evocative power of words continues unabated, he does have a prosaic side. Man does not live by stipend and modest commissions alone. He owns Tokley & Associates, a human resource training and consulting agency.

Historical author Michael Barone has been charting a significant shift in this country’s census patterns.

From 2000-06, the U.S. population grew by approximately 6 percent. However, the rate of growth in America’s “Coastal Megalopolises” (such as Boston, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Diego) was only 4 percent, points out Barone in a recent opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal . In contrast, “Interior Boomtowns” have grown by 18 per cent in the last six years – a function of significant domestic as well as immigrant inflows.

Among the major “Interior Boomtowns” (with accompanying rates of growth) are Las Vegas (19 percent), Charlotte (13 percent), Phoenix (12 percent) and Tampa (10 percent).