BlogWood: MT Archives

Taxpayers subsidize mall image makeover

Centro Ybor, that pile of bricks with the same shops and restaurants that can be found from Des Moines to Orlando, thinks of itself as special, and it just can’t fathom why everyone else does not just love it for its bubbly cuteness and its non-threatening inoffensiveness:

Darrin Spardello had pushed eight quarters into an Ybor City parking meter before he realized the meter's time limit was an hour.

He figured that wouldn't be enough time for him and his wife, visiting from Palm Beach, to explore the shops and restaurants of the Centro Ybor entertainment complex. So they got back in the car and drove, looking for another place to park. They circled and circled until, by chance, they spotted the sign for the Centro Ybor parking garage.

While happy with the great lunch and pleasant outdoor stroll that followed, Spardello and his wife said the parking experience was frustrating.

"It was a challenge," he said.

So Darrin, the guy who doesn’t have enough sense to check a parking meter before stuffing $2 into it, also found it challenging to use a parking garage. Sounds like a ready-made sucker to me... the perfect mark for Ybor’s safe and generic mall. But no. Centro Ybor isn’t happy with the status quo.

It's the same frustration that has dogged Centro Ybor since it opened in 2000 - not to mention Ybor City's image as crime-plagued and infested with people searching for body piercing parlors and nickel beers.

In the aftermath of recent news that Centro Ybor's developers are in default of their loans, officials are unrolling a campaign to try to overcome Ybor's image problems and bring in the crowds.

A series of newspaper advertisements beginning this week will feature "accomplished" locals, like 2003 Civitan of the Year winner Liz Kennedy, expressing enthusiasm for Centro Ybor. By March, the campaign will move to radio and perhaps television, said Centro Ybor spokeswoman Lisa Brock.

Brock won't say how much the campaign will cost, only that it is "substantially more than we typically spend."

Uh, aren’t the taxpayers paying the mortgage for this monstrosity? I think we have a right to know exactly how much is being spent on ads, who is getting the ad business, and whether the owners of Centro Ybor might just be able to pay their own damn mortgage if they weren’t spending so much on advertising.

Centro officials want residents to think of Ybor City as safe and family friendly. They want people to know that parking is available, and that yes, Centro Ybor is here to stay.

"The key is to get the word out that it's a convenient place for dining and browsing," said Jay Miller, executive vice president of Steiner Associates, one of Centro Ybor's developers. "It's going to take some time."

These guys have had four years and tons of free publicity to get their message across. They sound just like President Bush: “Trust us. We’ll do better. We’re really good and well meaning. Trust us. Past failures were someone else’s fault. Trust us...”

On its opening weekend four years ago, Centro Ybor, with more than 200,000 square feet of retail space, drew about 100,000 people who caught a movie at the Muvico, played video games at GameWorks, drank martinis at Big City Tavern or watched dinner being grilled at dish.

Centro's backers celebrated and prepared to ride the big wave.

Then Channelside, not far away near the Florida Aquarium, and International Plaza, with its upscale shopping, opened. Both were stiff competition.

Stiff competition for public handouts: International Plaza enjoys a sweetheart lease deal for the public land on which it sits, and Channelside is heavily subsidized as well. I’m confused: how it is that we have money for rich developer Welfare Daddies, but we don’t have money for universal health care?

And, Centro would have to battle a rough image that Miller said was fueled by the granting of too many liquor licenses. Over time, bars and nightclubs edged out art galleries and retail shops in Ybor.

Well, yeah, but that all happened well before Centro Ybor came on the scene. In fact, Centro Ybor was seen by many as the final nail in Ybor’s coffin. So, Centro Ybor contributed to the very decline that its developers are now blaming for its own failure. Ybor was already a reeling, binging, bullying, roofie-slipping frat boy when Centro came along. The city of Tampa had ensured that Ybor would be a wasteland of cheap generic bars and shiny drunken people by issuing all of those liquor licenses that Centro is now complaining about. At the time, Ybor was said to be booming, ‘cause all these new bars were, like, bringing in crowds and stuff. The Centro developers couldn’t wait to jump on the Ybor drunk wagon.

Almost four years after it opened, Centro Ybor, which was supposed to drive the revitalization of Ybor City, needed a $16.3-million multiyear bailout.

See above rant re.: mortgage payments.

Those who track the industry say Centro Ybor was a difficult sell from the beginning because of Ybor City's reputation.

"I think Centro Ybor was off to a great start," said Lill Hanson, a retail specialist at Grubb & Ellis/Commercial Florida. "But it's going to take more than a couple of years to change Ybor City's image."

Despite the slow change, Hanson said, Centro Ybor was the catalyst for bringing more development to the area. With nearby apartments opening up and hotels coming, it's starting to have almost a French Quarter feel, she said. And slowly, people are coming.

"The problem is just changing the impression people have of Ybor," she said. "They have to educate people. I do think (the customers) are starting to come."

Centro is looking to several key renters to draw in crowds. Among them: the Improv comedy club, GameWorks, the International Bazaar shop, M.J. Barley Hoppers and Samurai Blue restaurants, and Muvico, with its 21-and-older Premier Theaters & Bar.

Wait a minute. These are the same tired and generic shops that have been there since the beginning. Well, some names have changed, but a lot of these restaurants are truly interchangeable: bland, unimaginative, overpriced food served in a “fun” and “unique” decor...

They aren't targeting anyone in particular, Brock said.

"It's more about having people understand it's not just a place for teenagers," she said. "There are businesses and activities and things to do beyond just Seventh Avenue. It's for kids who want to shop at Urban Outfitters, for singles looking for a date place, families looking for activities and entertainment."

Translation: Centro Ybor is SAFE FOR WHITE PEOPLE! Bring your charge cards...

Miller said the bar crowd doesn't emerge until 11 p.m. - people just don't realize it.

"Everybody thinks that Friday and Saturday nights, it's just packed, and hard to park," Miller said. "If you come to Ybor at 7:30 to 8 p.m. it's very easy to get in and out."

Despite its shaky financial foundation, Centro Ybor is not closing, said general manager Irene Pierpont.

The complex has leased more than 90 percent of its retail space, and some of its restaurants do well enough to serve food until 1 a.m.

Now that’s impressive: one or two of the restaurants are managing to serve food!

"The world knows about Ybor City," Pierpont said. "The locals don't seem to support us as much. We're hoping to change that."

Hey, Irene: I’d venture a guess that locals might know just a little more about Ybor than the rest of the world. Hmm... maybe the locals see right through your cynical sugary marketing?

Pierpont admits parking can be confusing for those unfamiliar with the area, given the construction, one-way streets and parking meters that offer different times and rates. Centro officials are currently negotiating with the city to offer valet parking on Seventh Avenue.

More public space given over to a group of Welfare Daddy losers.

Her advice is: valet park or use the Centro Ybor garage on 15th Street near Seventh Avenue.

(That would be the garage that the city of Tampa built and runs at taxpayer expense for the primary benefit of... Centro Ybor)

Pierpont said a survey is being conducted on Ybor City to better understand its strengths and weakness. The results are expected to be published in March.

"It's a crucial time for us," she said.

Hanson, of Grubb & Ellis, believes Centro Ybor will bounce back.

"Because of Centro Ybor and what they (offer), Ybor City is cleaning up very quickly," she said. "It's going to take a while, but it's on its way."

More time. More taxpayer money and resources for Welfare Daddies.

Posted by Norwood at February 24, 2004 05:44 PM