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WESTSHORE PIZZA NOW IN NEW HANDS !

This chain/franchise with over 40 locations is now in new hands.  Legal problems helped to make the sale attractive to a group of local investors.  Watch for this group to get their act together and  start to give the larger chains a battle in the Tampa pizza market.  We told you a few weeks ago that this deal was going to happen, and it has now been completed.

10 BEACH DRIVE - Downtown St. Petersburg

CEVICHE'S TAPAS RESTAURANT EXPANDING  AROUND THE BAY !

Looks like this popular SOHO Eatery will be opening in St. Petersburg at 10 BEACH DRIVE in September.  What a Great Combo !  CEVICHE'S offers a great atmosphere and super food at it's SOHO location already but when it combines with the St. Pete location that has been a local landmark for food and drink, it will be a big success !  

I have spent many a time at 10 Beach Drive - convenient, comfortable, and classy.  Even met sailing great Dennis Connor there once !

Owner Gordon Davis may be looking to expand to the Sarasota area as well.  Gordon is also the owner of St. Bart's Island House in SOHO.

THE LARGEST OFFICE PARTY, IT WAS FUN, but...

not the largest.  Lots of downtown workers wandered into the XO Club for this publicized quarterly event.  It was  a very nice event.  Some free drinks, food, and giveaways.  Everyone was there ...  except for the crowd.  The event is planned to be held on a quarterly basis.    The talk was more about hockey as the season nears.

4115 W. Kennedy Blvd.

ZIPITZ  COMES TO TAMPA

ZIPITZ  has now located a new store on West Kennedy.  Almost all of us do mailings of some form, whether it be for a business or a non-profit group or some other club we belong to.  It is always a task, printing, stamping, folding, stuffing.  We know the whole process in our sleep.  The Really BIG mailings are just dropped off somewhere and gnomes do all that stuff to get your message out.  BUT times are changing and ZIPITZ is ready to make your life a lot easier - and almost painless. 

ZIPITZ is designed for the smaller mailing lists - ONLY 500 PIECES or More !  AND GET THIS -  IN MOST CASES YOU WILL NOT PAY MORE FOR THIS SERVICE.  They will fold, insert, add mailing address, AND postage for 37 Cents each - the same as just the cost of a first class stamp.  Postcard mailings are available too.

How do they do this ?   THIS IS PRESORT STANDARD MAIL.  They use pre-sorted business mail to receive a discount on postage and use that discount to provide you with the services of stuffing and labeling.   WHAT A BARGAIN !  Pay no more than you are paying now  BUT look at what you are getting.    There are additional savings for certified Non-Profit Groups.  And yes, they can provide you with mailing lists, full print capabilities, and more. 

The Tampa store is their second location of what will sure become a booming enterprise.  (First store is on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg)  Founder, Beth Bell, of Access Mail in Clearwater has been in the pre-sort business for over 10 years.  Her past involvement in sales, marketing, non-profit groups, political campaigns, and lots more helped her in understanding the needs of smaller mailing campaigns. 

ZIPITZ is now open at 4115 W. Kennedy Blvd.  (One block East of Lois)   Phone is 282-0201.  Email is tampa@zipitz.com.

Their website is www.zipitz.com

WIN - WIN - WIN

The plans unveiled for Central Park renovation are creative and well researched.  This key area of Tampa has been neglected way too long.  The problem with virtually every prior idea has been that is has disrupted current residents lives and offered them little in return.  Located between Tampa's Downtown and Ybor, it is one of the gateways to our city.

Ok, the design with a lot of open green space sure looks attractive, but it is careful planning that provides for residents to be able to move directly into a new residence without being displaced that got my attention.  Another positive of this plan call for almost doubling the available homes for public housing. 

Several complaints have been raised about this being the only plan submitted - WELL, DON'T LOOK A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH !  There were plenty of developers that looked over the site, where we they when it came time to submit ?

"The Biggest in The World " is a great description of Don Wallace's LAZYDAYS RV Supercenter in Seffner.   Almost makes you quiver when you say such a thing.  The BIGGEST in THE WORLD anything is pretty impressive.  Having worked at LazyDays for several years, let me tell you that as Don likes to say "We are just ordinary people, doing extraordinary work every day." 

Lazydays is a company like no other.  Every employee attends weekly Customer Service Training classes with the clear intent to show genuine concern for customer's problems and concerns.  Don Wallace is not an idealist when it comes to business.  He knows there are going to be bumps in the road and he anticipates them.  "Good Selling is Good Service - Good Service is Good Selling."   Customers are surveyed on a regular basis during their Lazydays experience.  You are even motivated to reply to the surveys by the attached one dollar bill .   And if you don' respond, be patient, you will get another letter reminding you how important your comments are.  AND they are read and responded to.

Don is realistic enough to know everyone can not be made happy.  But it will not be for a lack of trying.

The opportunity for Tampa to have new housing in its core area with the type of attitude and background that Don Wallace provides is one that should be more than welcomed.

Strong Financial backing,  little or no financial risk from the Tampa Housing Authority, very  little displacement of current residents, almost doubling of  public housing, renovation of a needed area, increased green space, enhancement to the tax base, low and mid rise buildings,  seems like a dream to me. When can we start ?

HOW MUCH BUILDING CAN TAMPA HANDLE ?     AND DO WE WANT TO ?

You are probably aware of the planned development at the Imperial Yacht Harbor (Gandy at Tampa Bay area) that will include 750 residences, almost 100,000 square feet of office and retail space, and a hotel, but now it has been announced that an additonal 1,000 residences are being proposed on the site immediately adjacent to that location.  High rises are sprouting all over Bayshore Blvd. and Downtown.  Rental apartment complexes are converting to condominiums and almost all residential properties are selling or reserving out very promptly.  Last count puts over 5,000 residences coming to downtown alone.  

The question is:  who is  going to live in all of these ?  Admittedly, Tampa is growing and many of these buyers plan to relocate to a new residence, but what about the rest ? 

The Historic Hyde Park Civic Association is raising funds to fight a planned high rise at Bayshore and Desoto by Citivest. 

When you study the Bayshore Task Force's research on the problems of traffic and safety on Bayshore, they continually suggest restricting traffic.  With more construction on Bayshore underway, the only reason for this must be due to the failure of the Building and Planning Departments to read the Task Force's reports. 

I recently went on the sales tour of Sky Point, the 32 floor condo proposed for downtown across from the Curtis Hixon Park.  They have over 1,000 on a list for appointments to be determined by lottery for the opportunity to purchase one of the 380 planned apartments from $170,000 and up !  Slogan is Great: touch the clouds.  own the sky. soar.  It took almost half an hour for me to wait in line for the presentation.  The presentation was short and sweet: here is what we are planning to build, here is our procedure, here is a sample apartment, and here is approximately what we think they will cost.  We will contact you by email or phone to arrange an in person appointment in May or June to put a 5-15% deposit on a condo to be competed in approximately 2 years. 

Having lived in the Tampa Bay area for many years, I have seen the bubble burst before.  With today's strong market, it is hard to recall the days when you saw ads that said:  "Buy this Townhouse and Get a FREE Boat.!"   There were years when high rise structures set uncompleted with the wind blowing through their gray concrete floors almost resembling a sci-fi film.  Are those days lurking in our future ? 

If prices fall, is walking away from a $5,000 deposit a better option than taking on the debt of an empty property ?

Every development requires roads, water, sewage, schools, garbage, and police attention.  How much can Tampa handle ?  We will not know until it is too late. 

What do you think ?