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With blueprint in place, Clearwater's North Marina now needs investment

 
Published Dec. 17, 2015

CLEARWATER — The conceptual drawings show a future North Marina neighborhood bustling with tourists and window shoppers.

In place of vacant storefronts along N Fort Harrison Avenue, the area is transformed into a cluster of retail shops and cafes.

Near the Seminole Boat Launch, a 100-room hotel and waterfront restaurant overlook the bay — instead of the abandoned construction zone now on the lot left over from a condominium project that failed in 2006.

Consultants have finalized a revitalization blueprint for the North Marina area's 12 square blocks between the bay and Pinellas Trail with Cedar Street to the north and Eldridge Street to the south. The question now is how to get private investors to fulfill this vision over the next 10 years and turn a slumping, waterfront neighborhood just walking distance from downtown into a thriving destination.

"We realize we're not going to get the entire study area to be magically transformed overnight," said Clearwater senior planner Katie See. "We understand it's going to start with just a couple of blocks, but it's a start."

While there are infrastructure upgrades the city could begin right away, See said the success of this revitalization plan depends on private sector buy-in.

The city could choose to lure businesses to the district by offering land or tax incentives, See said. They could work to attract residential projects first, hoping retail will follow.

Or, like in the case of Nancy O'Neill, maybe forward-thinking entrepreneurs will see an opportunity and rush to get a piece of it early.

O'Neill opened Nauti-Nancy's restaurant in a bungalow style building on Eldridge Street in 2010 at a time when prostitution and drugs in the neighborhood were rampant.

"At first, a lot of people drove by but wouldn't stop in to eat because they were afraid," she said.

She chose the area because of its location near the water, making it easy to host fish fries after boating tournaments. With few houses around the restaurant, she also knew her live band would be able to play well into the night.

After she established herself as among the notable seafood restaurants in town (she has 4.5 stars on Yelp), O'Neill said she has no problem bringing customers into the neighborhood.

She regularly hosts governmental luncheons, and out-of-town tourists return religiously.

Other businesses can do the same if they take the chance, she said.

"I do think it's realistic to change the neighborhood," O'Neill said. "It has to happen because unless you want to buy crack or get a hooker, there's nothing much happening on Fort Harrison North."

The North Marina neighborhood currently has about 465 residents between the single-family homes and apartments, but Stantec, the consulting firm the city paid $105,624 to design the redevelopment plan, proposes at least 190 more mixed-use residential units.

Today, there are 11 businesses within the boundaries, but the plan calls for aggressive development: a maritime school inside the vacant and historic North Ward Elementary School; a bicycle repair shop on the Pinellas Trail; an improved marine shop at the Seminole Boat Launch; wider sidewalks to accommodate shops on Fort Harrison Avenue; public art along the waterfront; and other infrastructure improvements.

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See said other uses not specifically mentioned in the plan — like a grocery store — would be welcomed by the city if proposed in a compatible area.

The North Marina project comes as the city is developing master plans for the Bluff and Coachman Park area as well as a strategy to make the downtown waterfront a boating destination.

Brian Halifax, who lives just south of the North Marina neighborhood, said a revitalization of the area would be a way to keep locals spending money in Clearwater, when they usually travel to Dunedin or St. Petersburg for fun.

He said with residential areas in walking and biking distance to North Marina, there is a hunger for things to do locally.

"We go to Dunedin all the time because it's like, what are we going to do here?" Halifax said. "And it's like, why? We should be able to just drive down the road."

Contact Tracey McManus at tmcmanus@tampabay.com or (727) 445-4151. Follow @TroMcManus.