Merchants have new plan for Ybor

TAMPA - There have been a lot of visions for Ybor City: an entertainment district, a place for families.

One of the latest is to turn the historic district into a gay Mecca.

"Since there's a uniqueness to Ybor, we thought 'Gaybor,' that's perfect for the uniqueness of Ybor City," said Carrie West, the Gaybor Coalition founder.

West runs MC Film Festival on 8th and 15th - what he describes as an eclectic gay gift shop. When West and his partner moved to Ybor in July, they say they saw the potential for revitalization - and gay tourism.

The couple started the Gaybor Coalition, and 35 businesses have signed up so far. The Coalition is targeting west Ybor City for a "Gaybor" district.

The goal is to bring in gay tourists, and add new businesses, and residents, to compete with other major cities with popular gay districts. West says he hopes to produce a bohemian feel.

"It's going to be filling in shop areas, not with just bars and nightclubs but variety, eateries coffee shops, that's what's going to make the uniqueness of Ybor City come to life," West explained.

Despite efforts by the city and local businesses, what Ybor's been known for recently is it's violent crime rate. But promoters of the Gaybor brand hope it can give the entire Ybor area an image makeover.

The Gaybor Coalition is working with the city and chambers of commerce to make their vision a reality.

The Hampton Inn on 7th Avenue and 13th Street has already had success working with West to bring in gay tourists. The Ybor City hotel offered a "Play and Stay" promotion in August, targeting gay couples, and the response was overwhelming.

"The tourism potential is unbelievable," said sales director Becky Fox.

The Hampton Inn is currently hosting Pentecostal convention participants, but sales manager Becky Fox says, there's room in Ybor for everyone.

"I actually feel sorry for people who aren't open-minded enough to see what this will do for our economy and this area," Fox said. "I honestly think this is a great opportunity for Ybor City to shine."

But not everyone wants Ybor to star as a gay destination.

"To each his own, but just being a Christian it's not something I'd condone," said Tampa resident Vikkie Franchina, who was shopping in Ybor City.

But most area businesses are eager to bring in extra tourism dollars any way they can. The feeling is that, while we all may be different colors of the rainbow, everyone's money is green.

Remaking a blighted neighborhood

Kevin Stuteville
Costantino & Company Real Estate Services
2216 E 4th Avenue
Ybor City, Fl 33605
813-842-4217

http://www.yborhomes.com

A Times Editorial
Published June 6, 2006

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The redevelopment proposed for Tampa's Central Park Village is not as ambitious as the two plans that collapsed in the last two years. Still, it would raze the horrid public housing project and put 1,300 people into better housing. It also would begin the remake of a blighted neighborhood on the northeast gateway to downtown.

The basic idea remains the same: Tampa's Housing Authority would raze the cinder-block project. In its place, Bank of America would build mid- and high-rise rental and for-sale apartments. The project still includes mixed-income units, including some for public housing residents, office space and retail, but the project is smaller in scope. The plan would encompass 28 acres, not the previous 60, and include 2,000 homes, half the earlier number.

What's more important than its scale is using the project to jump-start redevelopment of the larger neighborhood. Mayor Pam Iorio will ask Hillsborough County commissioners Wednesday to designate 143 acres in the surrounding area as a special taxing district. The move would encourage development by pouring property taxes back into sidewalks, streets and other area improvements - investments that help property values rise and feed the rebuilding cycle.

Central Park is important, but it's also just a piece of the picture. Commissioners should focus on the larger opportunity to rebuild an entire community between downtown and Ybor City. This is the last major chunk of undeveloped real estate between a fast-growing downtown, bustling Channelside and the Ybor entertainment district. Even the Central Park plan is secondary; the height, design and density could change once lenders, landowners and developers see local government's commitment to resurrect an impoverished but prime neighborhood. The job now is to give the bank, the housing authority and the other partners a sign that improvements are coming. Do that, and Central Park could still be the catalyst for those earlier ambitions

Historic Ybor Properties In the Urban Core Continue to Outsell the Rest of Tampa

Kevin Stuteville
Costantino & Company Real Estate Services
2216 E 4th Avenue
Ybor City, Fl 33605
813-842-4217

http://www.yborhomes.com

New homes a hard sell in changing market

Prices are high, and sales have slowed - except in older neighborhoods where bargains can still be found. Many are fixer-uppers.

By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer
Published May 26, 2006

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NEW TAMPA - Retirees Jimmy and Neltha Gibson were optimistic when they listed their year-old house for sale in January for $357,000.

"We thought it would sell," Neltha Gibson said.

Four potential buyers took a look in the ensuing weeks. Since then, nobody. The Gibsons have dropped the price three times, to $320,000, with little response. One real estate agent told them 85 other houses were for sale in Live Oak Preserve, and new houses are still going up there.

"It's been all in the last six months when everything has died," Jimmy Gibson said.

Down in Tampa Heights, Umesh Shah had an opposite experience. He paid $128,000 two months ago for a fixer-upper, which had an addition of a bathroom and closet half-finished. Shah expected to spruce up the little house and then sell it for a profit. But he listed it immediately, thinking, why not?

He had a contract a day later, for $155,000, from an investor who lived in the neighborhood. "I was really surprised," Shah said. "I was expecting a month or two."

Shah and the Gibsons personify two faces of Hillsborough County's changing home market.

In middle-class suburbs like the Gibsons', the torrid pace of home sales during the past two years has hit the brakes. New Tampa experienced 48 percent fewer sales of existing homes in the first three months of this year compared to the same period last year. In the fourth quarter of last year, 384 homeowners sold their houses there. During the following three months, only 162 did.

Sales of existing houses declined 17 percent in Hillsborough County as a whole. North of Tampa, sales dropped in all but the oldest neighborhoods.

But there, with lower home prices, the boom barreled on. Houses sold briskly in Sulphur Springs, Seminole Heights, Ybor City and the University of South Florida area.

Analyst Tony Polito suggests the distinction may stem from the supply of new houses. January through March, builders in Hillsborough poured 3,100 slabs for new houses, the most ever, according to Polito, the local director of Metrostudy, a market research and consulting firm on housing. Those new houses are competing with sellers of older homes in places like Westchase and Tampa Palms.

But they're too expensive to affect the home market in the older neighborhoods. Instead, the rising costs of land and construction are pricing home builders out of houses cheaper than $200,000. Over the past year, builders in the five-county Tampa Bay area have started only a third the number of new houses priced below $200,000 that they did two years earlier, Polito said.

"It's hard to find a house in the $200,000s," said Realtor Betty Kennedy, who has been finding houses here for 30 years. If you want a house for $125,000, she said, "It's going to be old, and it's going to need work."

'Still in denial'

Prices remain lofty nearly everywhere. In the Westchase and Eagles area, despite a first-quarter sales volume that was 37 percent lower, prices were 28 percent higher.

But experts expect more home-sellers to follow the lead of the Gibsons, triggering widespread discounting.

"A lot of sellers are still in denial about the value of their house," said Shah, who should know. Shah owns a franchise of Dallas-based HomeVestors, which sports the motto, "We buy ugly houses." When people call the ugly-house number in Hillsborough, every fourth call comes to Shah's office. HomeVestors vows to pay less than market value, but to make the sale quickly and simply.

Shah has heard from many people lately who stretched themselves financially to buy a home. Now, with mortgage rates a full percentage point higher than a year before, people with adjustable-rate mortgages are seeing their house payments ratchet higher.

Also stretched are investors, who poured into the market last year as tales of quick-flip profits spread. If those in the $250,000 to $600,000 range haven't cashed out already, they may be selling their investment houses in a glut.

The Greater Tampa Association of Realtors counted 21,316 existing houses listed for sale during the first four months of this year, more than double the number from the same period last year.

"People with dollar signs in their eyeballs came into the market," Kennedy said. "They won't be around long."

"Only the serious ones are involved now," said Shah. "I think a lot of investors went away."

Similarly, the hot market drew many new real estate agents into the business, which is now getting tougher.

"There's a lot of agents that were pretty successful last year that are struggling this year," said Vince Arcuri, an agent from Lutz.

"What we're in now is a normal market," Arcuri said. "This is what I've seen for 16 years."

"The last 5½ years have been just crazy," Kennedy said.

Grandkids' jacuzzi

It all started with interest rates so low that David Scott, a University of Central Florida finance professor and analyst for the Florida Association of Realtors, calls it an "interest-rate bubble that occurs once in two generations."

That made homes suddenly affordable for an unprecedented number of renters, and gave existing homeowners the ability to trade up to newer, larger houses. Job and population growth in Florida, particularly Tampa Bay, increased demand further. Meanwhile, Hillsborough County began running out of buildable land. The construction industry - thanks to hurricanes - began running out of materials.

As prices climbed, speculators realized you could buy a house and profitably flip it in a few months. They moved in, supercharging demand for homes.

"You could sell your house in a week," said Jimmy Gibson.

He and his wife, Neltha, simply wanted to stay near their three grandchildren, who were ages 2 to 6 and living in south Pinellas County. When the Gibsons' son moved with the grandchildren to New Tampa's Live Oak Preserve, the grandparents ordered a smaller house around the block. Selling their house in Seminole was a snap.

The Gibsons viewed their home in Live Oak Preserve as the last one. They blessed it with upgrades in the lighting, countertops, sinks and insulation. They ordered a full jacuzzi in the master bath.

"The grandkids love this," Neltha Gibson said. "You should see them in here with all the bubbles."

Total cost: $258,000. They arrived last May.

By fall, another move was in the works. The Gibsons' son, a pharmacist, began planning a transfer to a new pharmacy his corporation was opening in Spring Hill, Tenn., home of a huge Saturn factory.

"I cried," Neltha said. "I couldn't believe it."

"We hadn't even finished decorating," said her husband. Since January, they have tried a succession of real estate agents.

The Gibsons can afford to wait. Even at $320,000, their house would bring a one-year profit of $62,000.

"We're about the cheapest in the neighborhood in this model," Jimmy said.

Last week, their agent lined up a prospect. The Gibsons stashed away every toy. Then came the phone call.

"They'd looked at so many houses,'' Jimmy said, "they finally called and said, 'we're too tired.' "

Ybor City is changing...it was only a matter of time.

The following article sums up why Ybor city is undergoing such a substantial change right now. Even with the real estate market slowing in general, urban areas like Ybor city are continuing to see substantial growth because of visible drastic improvements to our neighborhoods.

Ybor city is rapidly becoming a "livable" community.

Kevin Stuteville
Costantino & Company
2210 E 4th Avenue Ybor City, FL 33605 813-842-4217
http://www.yborhomes.com/

E-mail me

YBOR CITY'S WAKING UP

By DAVE SIMANOFF and MARY SHEDDEN The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Look close enough and you'll see small but unmistakable signs that Ybor City is, once again, changing.

A little grocery store opened on Seventh Avenue. Dilapidated warehouses have given way to a handful of new townhouses. Some restaurants are adding tables; others are adding lunchtime service.

You'll find more business, more activity, more variety - and more people - along Seventh Avenue during the day, during the workweek, than you would have just a few years ago.
These are subtle signals that Ybor City is evolvingfrom its role as Tampa's weekend party playground into a more vibrant, well-rounded neighborhood where people live, work, dine and shop. Although it remains rough around the edges, these signs reflect the effect of Ybor City's small but growing population of residents and office workers - people whose presence is driving demand for new shops and restaurants.

Ybor City leaders admit there's still much work to be done: Blighted buildings, empty storefronts along Seventh Avenue, and the area's reputation for crime and hedonism are still problems.

"We're not there yet, but we're definitely seeing a difference in the demographics," said Vince Pardo, executive director of the Ybor City Development Corp., the city agency that oversees development in Ybor. "More of the storefronts are open. Lunch business, pretty much across the board, has increased because we have more office people who are here."
"It's become busier, basically," said Tom Keating, the president and chief executive officer of the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce. "More people, more activity and movement - it's got a dynamic now that's building all the time."

Don't believe the Ybor City boosters? Check out the numbers:

•The number of people living in Ybor was 2,032 in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 survey and is expected to double to 4,300 in 2025.
•New town homes continue to be built on vacant and run-down lots. The number of new town home parcels in Ybor City has doubled since 2001.
•Two firms have announced this year they're moving to Ybor City from other parts of Tampa, bringing an additional 300 office workers to the area.
•Planners expect to see residential growth increase by 105 new housing units a year through 2025.
•New urban town homes cropping up in Ybor continue to be more affordable than in other parts of the city, real estate agents and developers say.
•Membership in the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce is up 12 percent from a year ago, and the roster now lists 400 businesses and organizations, Keating said.

Pardo said the influx of residents and office workers, combined with other recent steps the city has taken - such as reopening Seventh Avenue to vehicle traffic on weekend evenings - has helped balance out the business mix. If Ybor City is to succeed as a neighborhood, it has to be able to support a wide variety of businesses catering to a wide variety of shoppers, diners and customers - not just one group of people and not just at night.
"We want the district to be vibrant, so that it's got more offerings during the day and in the early evening," Pardo said.Residential Growth
Ron DeSantis, 38, was a University of South Florida student when he discovered Ybor City's night life. Seventh Avenue's clubs were all he knew until a friend who lived in the area invited him to an Ybor community meeting.
"There was such a diversity of people," he said of the gathering that included Cuban, Italian and black residents, and even "a cowboy." "It was a little community."
That meeting's eclectic mix, and surroundings that reminded DeSantis of his grandmother's Italian village, led him to trade in a Rolex watch to pay for his first Ybor home in 1995. He never left, and now he works marketing and selling the increasingly present urban town homes to others intrigued with the idea of working, playing and living in the district.
"If you don't like to commute, it's the perfect place," said DeSantis, who can go a week without driving.
DeSantis said Ybor is a different place from what it was 10 years ago, when he knew drug deals and prostitution were a visible part of the community's fabric. He said images that make Ybor funky - the smell of roasting coffee beans from a factory, train horns, music from the nightclubs and roaming wild roosters - have overtaken the negatives. The one big drawback: the lack of a full-service grocery store, he said.
Young professionals like DeSantis are exactly whom Ybor developers are targeting with small-scale town houses and lofts often priced at $200,000 to $350,000. Lofts and town homes with one or two bedrooms appeal to buyers who want to invest and live near the night life, said Bob Glaser, president of Smith & Associates realty.
Although small in scale, the number of town home projects in Ybor City doubled from 2001 to 2005, from 16 to 37, said Tim Wilmath, of the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's Office.
That doesn't include several town home projects now under construction or old casitas - Spanish for little houses - being restored under the watchful eyes of the city's Barrio Latino Commission.
Long-term assessments of the area support this gradual growth. A 2004 Ybor City Economic Market Analysis predicts the area's residents will increase by 172 a year over the next 19 years.
"Ybor has continued to evolve," said Steve Yturriaga, the owner of Ybor Realty who moved to the area a year ago with his wife and 3-year-old.
However, he admitted that the area isn't ideal for families looking for a mainstream environment. He said he expects to own a home in Ybor forever but may not be here raising a family in 10 years.
Both Yturriaga and Glaser said the area is affordable compared with areas such as south Tampa and Channelside. Developers will likely be able to build, and more importantly sell, small-scale projects that offer just a handful of units.
"It makes it easier to sell as they become available," Glaser said.Offices On The Move
Roberts Communications & Marketing traded in its West Shore address for new digs on Ninth Avenue in Ybor City a year ago. Centennial Park sits across the street from the new office. Down the street, streetcars squeak down Eighth Avenue every few minutes, and the bells at Our Lady of Perpetual Help sound out the time.
Deanne Roberts said it was a very good move for her business: Ybor's charms have helped the company win over new clients and employees and have inspired staff members.
"Ybor City is a much more vibrant environment," she said. "I think anybody who employs people who think for a living, where they have to come up with ideas and be innovative, they ought to be in a creative environment - something like Ybor."
Roberts Communications isn't the only newcomer in Ybor City. The area's cluster of creative-industry businesses continues to grow: At last count, the area boasted six advertising agencies, nine architecture firms, 15 art galleries, three interior designers and one film production company.
Although no one tracked the number of creative industries in Ybor City five or 10 years ago, many of the companies there today are recent transplants from other parts of Tampa. In 1995, for example, you would find only two major architecture firms in Ybor City: Alfonso Architects and RBK Architects.
The focus on creative businesses is no accident. Keating said the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce has focused primarily on bringing these kinds of businesses to the area for a year.
"We already have a critical mass now, I believe, of creative businesses like ad agencies, architectural firms, interior design firms, planning firms," he said. "Once that critical mass hits, this will be the place to be."
Certainly, other kinds of businesses are welcome, too. Staffing company Kforce built its headquarters in Ybor City. GTE Federal Credit Union moved to Ybor from south Tampa several years ago.
Most recently, the Central Florida Lions Eye & Tissue Bank moved its statewide headquarters to Ybor City last year, spending $3.5 million to buy and renovate the 99-year-old F. Lozano building on 21st Street. The relocation brings 40 employees.
"This will become the nexus of the Bay area, like a Silicon Valley, where people come to do business," Keating said.

Featured Ybor City Real Estate

I hand pick the best values and most attractive homes and condos for sale in Ybor City. I do not hide the addresses of these prorperties so feel free to drive by and give me a call if you would like to view the interior. If you have any questions please feel free to call any time.

ph. 813-842-4217

Best of luck in your search,

Kevin Stuteville
Costantino & Company Real Estate Services
Ybor City, Florida 33605

VIEW: Ybor Bungalows