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Dunedin awaits rebirth of Fenway Hotel

Dunedin's Fenway Hotel

If I could travel through time, I think I might like to visit West Central Florida around 1925. The area was in the middle of a big land boom, and communities such as Clearwater and Dunedin were in the middle of exciting growth.

 Downtown areas were being developed, new hotels and commercial buildings were being built, and some beautiful and expensive private homes were going up.
 
Some residents of Dunedin felt that their community was being left a bit behind. Visitors to the area were attracted to Clearwater and St. Petersburg, not to Dunedin, which didn’t have the kind of resort hotel that people flocked to in the 1920s to escape the cold and snow of their native northern homes.

A local realty company decided to try to do something about that, and started pushing the idea of a very high-end resort hotel on Dunedin’s Main Street (now Edgewater Drive). The financing scheme seems a little offbeat – the developers asked every Dunedin resident to chip in a few bucks, and quite a few stepped up and did just that.
 
A Clearwater developer, George H. Bowles, paid $250,000 for a controlling interest in the still-unfinished hotel, and he was able to find the financing necessary to complete the project. The hotel opened in 1925.

One interesting feature that Bowles brought to the new hotel was WGHB, the first commercial radio station in the area. Bowles was a big radio enthusiast, and the December opening ceremonies of the Fenway were carried on a six-hour broadcast that was beamed across the country.

Remains of the Fenway Hotel pier

The Fenway attracted many wealthy visitors and it was an important icon of Dunedin through the late 1950s. But like many grand hotels of that era, it fell into disrepair and went out of business. It later became the campus of Trinity College, which then took the name of its parent institution, Schiller International University.

In recent months, a St. Petersburg attorney, George Rahdert, has stepped forward with plans to re-develop the old Fenway. There has been a lot of vigorous debate about what the Fenway’s future would be, from demolition to a reinvigorated hotel. Rahdert wants to restore the existing hotel and add new wings.
 
Some neighbors aren’t very happy about a new commercial enterprise operating near their homes. Other local residents are delighted that such an historic relic might be saved and restored.
 
The Fenway by the Bay Hotel that Rahdert envisions would include a ballroom, a 150-seat restaurant and more than 100 hotel rooms. What the developers have in mind is a “condotel,”. a facility where people can purchase suites which they could occupy for part of the year and rent out as hotel rooms at other times.

The project is now going through county review and approval processes. 

Go here for more information about the Fenway Hotel project.

Tags: Dunedin, fenway hotel, North Pinellas County, real estate

The great North Pinellas County roadside barbecue tour

I am from northern New England, home of pine trees, good seafood and plenty of snow.

Eli's, a Dunedin barbecue institution

What northern New England DOESN’T have is barbecue. And that’s enough to keep me here for the rest of my life. That, and the lack of snow.

When we lived up Maine and got a hankering for barbecue, we had to pile into the car and head south to South Portland, home to the only barbecue restaurant in the entire state of Maine.

(Now, before my old Maine friends get on here and attack me for my incredible lack of modern Maine barbecue awareness, I do have to acknowledge that, in my absence over the past 16 years, there is now something called the “Mainely Grillin’ and Chillin’ Country BBQ State Competition” that takes place in Eliot, Maine in August. Also, a Google search does reveal a few new barbecue restaurants scattered around the state. Wish they were there when we lived there…)

Anyway, there is no lack of barbecue in Florida, or throughout the entire South. Around here, there’s a barbecue joint on every other corner, and we go to most of them.

One thing that I really enjoy, though, are the little roadside pit barbecue places. Usually, these operate out in the open with not much more than a big black smoker and perhaps a couple of picnic tables. The more grandly financed outfits may operate out of a trailer of some kind.

Anyway, there’s enough of them around here that I thought I’d do a little blog tour of North Pinellas County’s outdoor roadside barbecue places. Here are three of them:

Eli’s

Now that I’ve just gotten through describing roadside BBQ joints as not having any permanent real estate, I start off with Eli’s, s which actually does. But here is why I’m including it: It’s a Dunedin institution; it’s only open on Friday and Saturday; and while it does have a small permanent building, only the help can go inside — customers must order through a window, and then have to take the food home or eat it outside on a strange collection of picnic tables and old restaurant booths.

One order of ribs -- to go!

There’s a big ol’ smoker out back that has a name of its own — “Bigfoot.” And it turns out very good barbecue that Eli sells at very good prices — a chopped pork sandwich with beans and cole slaw was just $6 on a recent visit.

The parking lot at Eli’s is often full or nearly so on Friday’s and Saturday’s, the only days that Eli’s is open. And on the day I was there, one customer actually rode in on a riding lawn mower, got his order of ribs and rode out, balancing his white bag of food on his lap.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: barbecue, North Pinellas County, restaurants

Al Boyd’s boot

It wasn’t so long ago that North Pinellas County was little more than orange groves and open land. Because of that, the area isn’t exactly chock full of old stories and legends. But there is a pretty good story involving Boot Ranch. Boot Ranch is now a shopping center, but it used to be a good-sized ranch that was owned by one Al Boyd.

Al Boyd's boot

Since Al called his spread Boot Ranch, he built a great big boot to mark the entrance of his driveway — a 17-foot bit of concrete footwear that bore the image of a Brahmin bull. At the time, the boot stood at what is now the intersection of Tampa Road and McMullen Booth.

The Boyd ranch was a large spread that covered a significant bit of acreage in North Pinellas County. But, like all the other large tracts in the area, it was eventually sold to make way for housing developments, apartments and a big shopping center, appropriately named the Shoppes at Boot Ranch. When the shopping center was built, the big boot was painted white, pink and light green (not exactly cowboy colors) and was moved to a place of honor in the shopping center parking lot. That is where it still stands today.

Here’s the interesting part:

If you look closely at the base near the boot’s toe, you can see the faint outline of a small window. And if you walk around to the back, you can see the faint outline of a painted-over door.
Legend has it that Al Boyd had a small room built into the boot.

According to legend, Al was unhappy that some locals used to drive by and take pot shots at the boot. He asked the sheriff about what he could do to retaliate, and the law officer said he could return the fire if he were in or near the boot — that returning fire would be tantamount to self-defense.

So, Al reportedly would hang out in his little room in the boot and wait for gun-toting ne’er-do-wells to drive by. If they opened fire on his boot, Al supposedly would stick his rifle through the window of the boot and return fire. One night he supposedly peppered the door of a passing pickup truck when the occupants took a few shots at the boot.

The boot had a colorful past, just like Al Boyd. It seems kind of sad that it is living out its final days in a shopping center parking lot.

Tags: history, North Pinellas County, real estate

What’s driving the market in North Pinellas County?

The real estate market is still slow here, just as it is everywhere, and there’s plenty of uncertainty about buying and selling to go around.  Still, things have been quite a lot better since around the first of the year, and I’ve been pretty busy with a steady stream of buyers.

What’s the common denominator? It’s probably that many of them are first-time home buyers.

This is not a very good time for the move-up buyer, who wants to trade up to a larger or nicer home.  Those people already own a home, and the chances are good they may owe more than the house is worth, or have a large enough mortgage that there just isn’t much equity left to finance a move to a nicer, more expensive home.

But for first-time homeowners, this is a great time.  Home prices are lower than they have been in a decade, interest rates are low, inventories and selection are great, and sellers are willing to negotiate in earnest. And don’t forget that big $8,000 tax credit that’s available to first time homebuyers (or to people who haven’t bought a home in the past three years or longer.)

I’ve sold a number of houses so far this year to first-time home buyers, and some of the deals have been REALLY favorable.

Do you have a good first-time home buyer story that you’d like to share? Use the “comment” area at the top of this post  – I’d like to hear from you.

Tags: First time homebuyers, North Pinellas County, real estate

Federal government offers mortgage help

Okay, so you’ve been living in your home in Pinellas County and faithfully making your mortgage payments, but your home’s value has been steadily slipping and now you owe more than the place is worth. You keep reading about new government programs that are supposed to help, but you need to find out more.

Fear not – there’s a place you can go to find the help you need.

That place is www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov. It’s a website designed to describe the benefits of a federal program called, well, Making Home Affordable. It offers homeowners a number of opportunities to either refinance their mortgages, or modify the mortgages they already have.

The Making Home Affordable program is financed with $75 billion for loan servicers and borrowers. Its designers say that it should be able to offer mortgage help to four million homeowners who need to modify their loans to make them more affordable, or who need to negotiate short sales of their properties with their mortgage providers.

Officials say that the money will allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance up to five million loans they own (or guarantee). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have set up web sites and toll-free hotlines for borrowers who need to determine if their mortgages fall under Fannie or Freddie. Fannie Mae’s is www.fanniemae.com/homeaffordable (phone number (800) 732-6643); Freddie Mac’s is www.freddiemac.com/avoidforeclosure (phone number (800) 373-3343).

Some borrowers might prefer to get information first from their own mortgage servicer. To do that, go to www.HopeNow.com and fill out an application. That web site is operated by an alliance of mortgage servicers and nonprofit counselors. You can talk to them on the phone at (888) 995-4673.

No matter where you live in North Pinellas County – Tarpon Springs, Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater, Safety Harbor, or anywhere else, for that matter – the information offered applies to you.

Tags: Add new tag, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Mortgage, North Pinellas County

Jacarandas add color to Pinellas County

If you’re not from around these parts but you come to visit in the spring, you may be surprised at the bright blue trees that can be found all over Pinellas County.

Jacaranda tree

The bright purplish-blue flowers give an almost electric coloration to the trees, and when the leaves drop (after about eight weeks) they create a royal-blue carpet on the green grass. Just gorgeous.

These are jacaranda trees, and they add a beautiful splash of color that announces the coming of spring.

Florida has lost of non-indiginous plants (and animals, too) that the state would like to get rid of, but the jacarandas are more welcome, even though they are not native to Florida.

There are more than 50 types of jacarandas, but most of the ones you see in Florida come from the Amazon river valley area of South America.

Tags: North Pinellas County, Palm Harbor

No lawn re-sodding until summer

Speaking of green, here’s some news about local lawns. This is either good news or bad news, depending on your point of view.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District, known around these parts as SWIFTMUD, says homeowners won’t be able to re-sod their sick-looking lawns until next summer. The ban includes Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough Counties.

The reason: new lawns require lots and lots of water. And we don’t have lots and lots of water right now, and probably won’t have until the summer rainy season.

This order is bad news if: you love green, green lawns, or if you are a homeowner’s association and you require your members to have green, green lawns. But it is good news if: you really, really hate spending a lot of money on lawn-watering, or if your lawn is already brown and you were waiting for a nasty letter from the president of your local homeowners association.

Tags: North Pinellas County

Autoway Dodge closes

There I was, driving down US19 this morning just south of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater, when I noticed something missing. Something big. In fact, a whole major-league-sized auto dealership had simply evaporated.

Autoway Dodge took up a pretty good chunk of expensive commercial real estate on the southbound side of US19 in a pretty big neighborhood of car dealerships. Monday, Autoway Dodge was still there; today, just two days later, the place was empty.

If you own a Dodge automobile and you have had your service done at Autoway Dodge, don’t dispair; the franchise has been purchased by Dayton Andrews Chrysler, which is just a couple of miles away on the north side of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard, just west of US19. Dayton Andrews says it will take over the sales and service from Autoway Dodge, but won’t be buying that big chunk of expensive real estate.

Dayton Andrews has plenty of Dodge experience — it owns a Dodge dealership down in St. Petersburg. In fact, even though I live in Palm Harbor (in North Pinellas County ), I bought a Dodge from them a few years ago and had good luck with it and them.

Autoway Dodge is the second Autoway dealership in Tampa Bay to close down in recent weeks. Autoway Chevrolet of Tampa Bay, over in Tampa, closed a week ago.

Tags: North Pinellas County

How things have changed

Here’s what I was telling buyers about three years ago:

“Do you like this house? If you do, you’d better act fast. Houses are staying on the market just a few days. The market is extremely overheated. Someone else will make a good offer and it will be gone.”

Here’s what I’m telling buyers now:

“Do you like this house? You may be able to get it at a really good price. In this market, many buyers are open to any reasonable offer — even unreasonable offers. It’s a great time to negotiate. So let’s negotiate.”

Tags: Market Trends, North Pinellas County

Where are the restaurants going?

If you visit this blog or my web site with any regularity, you know that I like restaurants — a lot. So when a new restaurant comes to town, it’s big news to me. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true — when a restaurant packs up and leaves, that’s news to me, as well.

Lately, it seems that we have been losing more restaurants than we have been gaining, and I’m not sure why.

The latest news is that Sam Seltzer’s Steak House on US19 north of Alderman Road has been closed. That restaurant has been open for about a year and a half, and we’ve eaten there a number of times. Honestly, we didn’t like it as much as the Sam Seltzer’s further south on US19, down south of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard in Clearwater (there’s a review of that restaurant on my Restaurant Review page).

Sam Seltzer’s management says that the company felt that the Palm Harbor restaurant was taking business away from the Clearwater restaurant as well as the location up in Port Richey.

Another big surprise is that the Hooter’s restaurant, which was also on US19 north of Alderman, has closed down as well. No word from Hooter’s on what happened, but there is some speculation that it had to do with a rent increase. Hooter’s puts out a pretty good burger, but honestly it has never been one of my favorites and we almost never go there.

Not too long ago, the Fred Fleming’s barbecue restaurant on US19 at Nebraska closed. We miss that place, because we used to like to take our two granddaughters there. Another fairly recent closure was the Palm Harbor Ale House, on US19 just north of Tampa Road. That was a place for a fairly young crowd, kind of a sports bar atmosphere, and we didn’t go there very much either.

But not all the recent restaurant news has been negative. Dagwood Deli recently opened, and Wild Fish has been open on US19 south of Curlew for a number of months now. We haven’t tried Dagwood, but we’ve been to Wild Fish a couple of times. I’ll try to get a review of Wild Fish up on the web site in the near future.

Tags: North Pinellas County, restaurants