January 08, 2004
"Mommy, I don't like this"
Centro Ybor joins growing list of Tampa Welfare Daddies.
When are we going to stop coddling these shiftless rich white men and start making them earn an honest living like the rest of us? Centro Ybor sucked the last remaining life out of Ybor city by forcing out many of the last small independent merchants who were fighting fate by struggling to remain in an area which they helped to make cool and hip.
Centro Ybor is no more than a glorified generic mall full of the same shops and restaurants found literally everywhere else. Once inside this colossal mistake, visitors realize that they could be in any unimaginative corner of our country. There is nothing, aside form the location and name, that sets Centro Ybor apart from any other mall.
Now, the developers are just flabbergasted that their mall, the one that is just like all the other malls that are easier to get to, is not doing so well. Luckily, our former Mayor Dick made sure that his developer friends would not be stuck with anything as inconvenient as having to pay a mortgage or anything like that.
Uh, yeah, that means that we, the taxpayers will be stuck with the aforementioned mortgage, but that’s ok, ‘cause this mostly empty mall is contributing greatly to our economic well being.
Centro Ybor, the shopping complex that was supposed to drive the revitalization of Ybor City, will wind up costing taxpayers $16.3-million in a multiyear bailout.Posted by Norwood at January 8, 2004 05:56 PMThe project's owners cannot pay the rest of a federal loan guaranteed by city tax funds, and have asked Mayor Pam Iorio for help.
Iorio said Wednesday the city will take over payments on the loan, beginning with a $300,000 payment on Feb. 1. The cost to taxpayers this year will be $760,000.
Over the next 14 years, the total price tag, with interest, will be more than $16-million.
......Former Mayor Dick Greco struck the deal in 1997 to back Centro Ybor's birth. It was the signature project of Greco's eight years in office, and was touted as the engine to rebuild Ybor City, where Greco grew up and worked in his family's hardware store.
......The city invested millions more in Centro Ybor: $1.5-million in streetscape improvements and two parking garages to serve Ybor's entertainment district. The city also pledged to run its electric streetcar system past Centro Ybor.
......The developers included the Sembler Co. of St. Petersburg, led by national Republican Party fundraiser and developer Mel Sembler, who is now ambassador to Italy.
Steiner+Associates was led by Yaromir Steiner, who created CocoWalk in Miami's chichi Coconut Grove area. Both groups had 25 percent stakes in the project.
The remaining 50 percent was backed by German investors. The group initially put up about $7.4-million and has contributed at least another $1-million.
......The mayor couldn't remember a time she bought something at Centro Ybor, but "I am not much of a shopper, period."
At lunchtime Wednesday, a trickle of customers filled Centro Ybor's red brick plaza, once home to Ybor's cigar workers and ethnic clubs. There was no one at Adobe Gila's, about three tables were full at Dish, and Fresh Mouth was about half-full.
Even (Tampa City Council member Linda) Saul-Sena sees the problems. She took her took her 13-year-old to Centro Ybor to shop at the American Eagle store recently. But when they arrived, American Eagle was closed. Strolling around, they heard shouts across the street. It looked like some sort of disturbance. "Mommy, I don't like this," Saul-Sena's daughter said.
