Gateway Project Is Start of New Trend, City Says

The Gateway project's style of development will set the tone for a new era of architecture in Dunedin.

The three-story, mixed retail and 124-unit apartment Gateway project proposed for the years-vacant, 4.1-acre parcel at Main Street and Milwaukee Boulevard is the first of its kind in Dunedin to embody the city's "live, work, play" motto, a growing trend among all age groups in Dunedin and across America.

"It used to be people wanted to go to a cul-de-sac and have a pool and a buffer wall and just be on the their back porch," said Bob Ironsmith, director of economic development. "Now it's just the opposite. They want to live downtown, they want to get a cup of coffee, they want to get a bite to eat, they want to go to retail, and they want to take in a special event or a film in the park."

City planners are hoping the $15-16 million development is the start of a trend throughout Dunedin, despite some critics' assertions that three-story buildings will destroy downtown's quaintness, even with charming design elements like awnings, balconies and outdoor dining.

"I've worked and lived in many cities," Laura Zahn, a volunteer citizen planning board member, said of Gateway's design. "You cannot dwarf a three-story building. ... Bottom line, it is huge and massive."

Greg Rice, director of planning and development, tried to explain city planners' vision for how Gateway's mixed-use concept, with retail shops and restaurants on the bottom lining Main Street and apartments on the upper levels, would be a transformative piece to downtown's future development.

"We're not trying to make it quaint," Rice said.

"I thought Dunedin was quaint?" Zahn said.

"We have 30 units-per-acre density with a 52 height allowance," Rice said. "So, nobody's trying to make it quaint."

"Why are we not trying to make it quaint and fit in with what's two blocks further down into Dunedin, where its all nice single story properties and little shops and ...?"

"We're hoping the rest of main street goes in this exact same direction," Rice said.

"Goes three-story?" Zahn said.

"Yes, absolutely," Rice said. 

Zahn paused in stunned silence before speaking again.

"You heard it here folks, first," she said.

(Zahn later recused herself from voting after it was discovered she had unreported ex parte communication with a Mease Dunedin Hospital employee.)

Some members questioned the absence of a 10-foot setback on the third floor, a code meant to create a tiered look to tall buildings. The absence of the setback preempts a not-yet-written waiver option to 2005 code meant to prevent smooth-walled, tall buildings from causing a "canyon effect" downtown.

City planners say awnings, balconies and outdoor dining also work to prevent a "canyon" feel.

Local planning board member Gayl Scrutton said the balconies and awnings were effective in "breaking up" the building and reminded her of New Orleans architecture. 

"Never in New Orleans, with the much narrower streets — I never felt squished," she said. 

Scrutton also lauded site developer Pizzuti's placement of the 207-space parking lot, tucked out of sight behind the storefronts.

"I'd rather see this than a parking lot in the front along Main Street," she said. "That's what the hospital has and I don't find that terribly attractive either."

The pedestrian-focused block would connect downtown to the hospital area. A passive park is planned on the Jernigan tract, along the west side of Milwaukee Boulevard; two three-story apartment buildings, most of which will be one-bedroom or studio units, will face Skinner Boulevard; and most of the 24,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space fronts downtown Main Street with some boutiques facing Milwaukee Avenue, with some apartments above.

Gregory Brady, a Dunedin business leader who lives across the street from the proposed project, passionately defended development plans for the lot.

"I can tell you as a property owner that has had to look at an empty field for quite a long time, that has produced no taxes for the city, or if any, very little, I look forward to our (Community Redevelopment Agency) budget growing. I look forward to the city coffers being filled with tax money," he said. "And getting an empty lot, we talked about Nielsen earlier. Have we learned nothing from Nielsen sitting empty? If we wait for the perfect development with the perfect people and the perfect mix, we're not going to have development."

"We need to fill these empty lots with development that bring taxes to the city and stop making people jump through hoop after hoop after hoop."

"I think it's a much better entrance to my downtown than a closed abandoned restaurant and a grass field where cars park and kick up dust all day long," Brady said.

Vice Chairman Dan Massaro agreed.

"This used to be a ghost town," he said, adding that "bringing residents (to downtown) was the key to making this city work. This project will help us continue with this."

The project won support from the local planning agency. Its final design review will likely go before the city commission July 18, during a regular meeting at City Hall.