by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
When the Historic Preservation and Downtown Revitalization Task Force was formed eight months ago by then-City Council president Matt Carlucci, the group was charged with identifying historically significant structures and determining their role in the future of downtown.
The group included City Council and Historic Preservation Commission members and staff and representatives from the community devoted to keeping downtown’s historical heritage. To date, the task force’s biggest accomplishment was to help the City obtain the three historical buildings at the corner of Laura and Forsyth streets. Today, the old Florida National Bank, Bisbee and Marble Bank buildings are being pursued by three prominent area developers, all of whom have presented multi-million dollar redevelopment proposals that promise to maintain each building’s historical essence.
With phase one of the task force’s job essentially complete, City Council president Jerry Holland has asked Council members Elaine Brown and Jim Overton to form an implementation team to assure the task force’s eight months of hard work don’t disappear into the bureaucratic abyss.
“He [Holland] has verbally asked me to chair the task force and I have agreed,” said Brown, who holds downtown’s historical elements and its future in high esteem.
In fact, Brown believes many of downtown’s historical buildings can be restored — citing as an example the old American Heritage Life building that developer John Rood is converting into 11 E. Forsyth apartments — and become vital elements of downtown’s future. Brown is also pleased Holland had the foresight to quickly ask that the task force’s recommendations be implemented.
“There are several areas the we definitely need to concentrate on and this is a very good move on Jerry’s part,” said Brown. “This is giving the task force and the work that was done under Matt Carlucci credibility. We did not want to let a year go by and not do anything. Often, when a new [Council] president comes in, ideas are shelved. This is a real thank you.”
Overton said the new task force would include some familiar faces and a few new ones. He specifically mentioned Joel McEachin, Lisa Sheppard and Helena Atalla Parola of the Historic Preservation Commission and the HPC’s chair, Frank Ashton.
“We will probably need someone from the General Counsel’s Office and possibly Jerry Spinks because he has good ideas about design,” said Overton. “We need [Council member] Suzanne Jenkins because she has the zoning codes down pretty well.”
Overton also mentioned that having a couple of experienced downtown developers and at least one member of the Downtown Development Authority on board may complete the implementation task force.
Like Brown, Overton thinks one of the implementation team’s biggest challenges will be to market downtown and convince those in the suburbs that downtown is a viable destination. Obtaining landmark status for buildings all over downtown is fine, says Overton, but it won’t do any good if the buildings are left status quo or no one comes to the area once they are restored and remodeled.
“The biggest thing is to raise awareness of downtown and the fun aspects. It needs to be more of an entertainment venue,” said Overton. “That’s not necessarily the business of the task force, but of our marketing arm.”
Overton said several cities across the country provide perfect examples of how to and how not to revitalize downtown. The key, he said, is redeveloping without tearing down.
“Downtown Los Angeles has no spirit, but downtown Nashville and New Orleans have lots of spirit. Minneapolis is great, but St. Paul isn’t,” said Overton, adding he, too, would like to organize and meet with the group soon. “If we get going, I’d like to get going in November.”
Sheppard said the HPC’s role in the implementation process will be to assure the recommendations get addressed and help obtain creative assistance from outside sources.
“There were a lot of good ideas discussed that involve multiple agencies,” said Sheppard. “Some of those ideas include using banks, FCCJ and other entities involved in the construction trades that will concentrate on historic buildings. We want people to repair windows instead of replace windows and not many people know how to do that kind of work.”
Although the implementation team obviously hasn’t formed a specific agenda, they did compile a list of 54 historically significant buildings downtown. A couple, the Center Theatre and the Lanier Building, are gone. Others, such as the St. James Building (City Hall), have been totally remodeled. Many of the list, though, are exactly what the task force wants developers to buy into: buildings that need interior remodeling and exterior facelifts.