On June 9, the Historic Preservation Commission of the City of Tampa is holding a public meeting to discuss the future of the Seminole Heights Baptist Church, which is arguably the most prominent structure in Seminole Heights (its steeple can be seen from I-275).
A city document says the request pertains to the “demolition of property listed, Eligible for listing, or pending listing in the National Register of Historic Places (National Register) individually or as contributing in a National Register-listed historic district or property in the HPC workplan.” The document also mentions a request for “determination of economic hardship.”
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s calls and voicemails to the listed authorized agent, former Tampa City Attorney Julia C. Mandell, have yet to be returned along with calls and messages to City of Tampa building inspector Jerry Schrenker, and Eddie Browder.
Browder’s LinkedIn profile says he’s a project manager and landscape architect at Orlando engineering firm S&ME. S&ME submitted a plan for the church, located at 810 E. Hillsborough Ave. in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood, to the city.
Those plans, like many related to this demolition, can be seen by anyone via the city’s Tampa’s Accela Citizen Access site.
And for now, without comment from the engineering firm, developer and city officials or any of the newest documents, we have to speculate about the process and future of the historic structure (with a lowercase "h," by the way, not "Historic" as in on the National Register of Historic Places).
Josh Frank, Principal and Urban Designer at Wide Open Office—which works to establish new relationships between people and their environment through landscape architecture, urban design and community development—told CL that these are typical documents for these kinds of proposals.
But based on the docs available, the plan for the demolition of the church could pretty well be on its way.
Frank, 31, said those plans could be for marketing and pointed out that there could be a new plan for the site that isn't online yet.
But a look at aforementioned test fit site plan, which shows a 10,860 square-foot “free standing emergency room” within the footprint of the church, which was founded in 1921. The plan also shows a future expansion zone (blue dotted line, ironically next to the shadow of the church’s famous steeple) in addition to a list of all the requirements for permitting on the right side of the sheet. There are square footage numbers for the parking, plus floor-to-area ratio numbers that all signify that the project is pretty close to applying for permits.
“If it was purely for funsies, you wouldn't necessarily do those calculations,” Frank told CL.
Sill, to many on urban development blogs like URBN Tampa Bay, it looks like there's an intent to demolish the church.
The old fire station on the Taliaferro side of the property is also in jeopardy according to the preliminary site plan.
The plan also shows a desire for a curb cut (entrance/exit) on Hillsborough Avenue, but a note on the plan says it is unlikely to be approved.
Frank agrees that the curb cut will be disapproved since Hillsborough Avenue is an Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) road that’s close to the interstate.
“That shows me that they know what they're doing and that maybe they've had conversations with FDOT to some degree,” Frank said.
Brant Adams, Pastor of Seminole Heights Baptist told CL that, “The plan you are looking at is not official or anything that has been submitted, from preliminary discussions.”
He said church members are trying to discover what their rights as a property owner are, but that they’re kind of at the city’s mercy.
“The Church Membership is the property owner, [which] has built and removed many buildings over the decades on this property,” Adams added.
But on June 4, Adams followed up to tell CL that, "The Church has taken the opportunity to listen to the concerns of the community and all productive comments."
"The Fire Station is a distinctive structure and an important reminder of the role of first responders in the community. The Church believes that the Fire Station can be integrated into any future development on our Property. We are withdrawing our application as it refers to Fire Station No. 7," the church wrote in an email.The Church and the Fire Station are separate applications. The Church is moving forward with the hearing on the Church. We do not believe the Church structure meets the criteria or standards for preservation."
CL also reached out to Atelier Architecture’s Vivian Salaga, who is listed as the Chair for Tampa’s Historic Preservation Commission. Salaga wrote that, “Unfortunately, I cannot speak with you regarding this matter.”
“I sit on the Historic Preservation Commission and this would be considered ex parte communication and render me unable to act on this matter at the public hearing,” Salaga added in an email.
In a phone call with CL, Dennis Fernandez, Manager of Tampa’s office for Architectural Review and Historic Preservation, confirmed that the church and fire station do not have places on national or local registers of historic places; both, however, are eligible for the national listing individually, which brings it to the board level review. Fernandez confirmed that demolition requests are on the table June 9, but added that if the board concurs with the state that the structures are eligible for lifting on the national register, then they also determine if they’re eligible for local listings.
“If they feel that way and they vote in on a majority to affirm that, then essentially what happens is they will not approve a demolition permit for those structures at this time until they go through another review for local listing of local significance,” Fernandez, a lifelong Tampeño told CL.
But on Friday, June 5, after the church shared its intention to remove the fire station application, Fernandez explained how the news changes the June 9 meeting.
"The request for demolition of the Fire Station will be removed from the agenda. The church review will remain on the agenda and be considered at the June 9 public hearing," Fernandez said. "The board will review it in accordance with the applicable code section and make its determination."
Fernandez could not give his personal thoughts on the church, but his role in Historic Preservation does look at how structures can find new uses and still play a role as a link to Tampa’s past.
He said The Sanctuary off Central Avenue in Tampa Heights is a good example of that.
“I do know that a lot of people have a lot of nostalgia and sentiment towards church buildings and houses of worship,” Fernandez said. “So we’ve worked with a number of properties you know they still operate as churches and others that have put the building to different uses.”
The public meeting is set for Tuesday, June 9 at 9 a.m. inside meeting rooms 14-17 on the first floor of the Tampa Convention Center, located at 333 S. Franklin St. Social distancing measures will be in practice, and members of the public who do not wish to appear in person may submit written comments for the Architectural Review & Historic Preservation Office by mail (4900 W. Lemon St., Tampa, FL 33609) or email (beverly.jewesak@tampagov.net) no later than 24 hours before the meeting.
UPDATED: 06/05/20/ 12:25 p.m. This post has been updated with June 5 news about the fire station, comment from Dennis Fernandez, Manager of Tampa’s office for Architectural Review and Historic Preservation, and additional comment from Brant Adams, Pastor of Seminole Heights Baptist Church.
Support local journalism in these crazy days. Our small but mighty team is working tirelessly to bring you up to the minute news on how Coronavirus is affecting Tampa and surrounding areas. Please consider making a one time or monthly donation to help support our staff. Every little bit helps.
Follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter to get the most up-to-date news + views. Subscribe to our newsletter, too.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2020.