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Several should be completed soon - including a library renovation, a recreation center and a theater.
By ANNE LINDBERG
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 31, 2001
PINELLAS PARK -- Library director Barbara Ponce came to last week's council workshop bearing gifts of plastic bags full of rattling Lego building blocks.
They were her annual report on the status of the Pinellas Park Library and a reminder of the construction that has had Ponce and the books exiled to ParkSide mall for more than a year.
The banishment is about to end as the $2.3-million project to nearly double the size of the library nears completion.
If all continues to go well, Ponce plans to shut down the mall library around Feb. 26. She and her assistants will spend the next month moving about 100,000 books, documents, computers, magazines, tapes and other items back to the renovated library at 7770 52nd St. N.
That process should take about a month, Ponce said, making a March 26 "soft" opening. She said the grand opening and dedication would be around the first of April.
While the grand opening is sure to get a lot of attention, Ponce will have competition from other projects that are due to be completed about the same time.
Prime among those are the 16-screen theater at ParkSide and the Broderick Park Recreation Center.
Mall spokeswoman Susan Robertson said: "We are going to open the theaters March 30. They're working busy as bees. . . . It's coming along very, very well."
For the first few days the theaters are open, seats will be $1 and proceeds will go to charity, she said. On April 5, the theaters will be closed to the public for an invitation-only grand opening. They'll reopen to customers April 6.
Robertson said she does not think the success of the theaters at BayWalk in St. Petersburg will adversely affect ParkSide's movies.
"First of all, we've got free parking," Robertson said. BayWalk's parking has been free since it opened, but plans are to begin charging. "(Our) stadium seating has rocking chairs."
Add to that the digital sound system, the computerized ticketing, party rooms, a game room and a coffee cafe, which all will add to the appeal of the new theaters, she said.
Even if that is not enough, she said, the ParkSide theaters are likely to draw from a different crowd than BayWalk: those who live in the Tyrone area and past Clearwater Mall.
For those who want a bit brisker leisure time than reading or watching movies, Broderick Park will be just the place.
The $2.6-million project is ahead of schedule, said Assistant City Manager Mike Gustafson. Construction should be finished around the end of April, with the grand opening scheduled for the end of May, beginning of June.
People can already see major changes at the park, 6755 62nd St. N. Those include the new recreation building, which is being stuccoed. The last items to be completed will be the playing fields.
Once the paint comes out, folks will get an eyeful. Gustafson said the roof of the recreation building will be teal green and the outside of the building will be tan, purple and salsa.
"It's Barney purple," he said, referring to the television dinosaur.
Why purple?
"I didn't pick the colors," Gustafson said. "I believe it was between the architect and Barbara Ponce and (Recreation Director) Joel Garren. . . . I think (the colors) are going to be a lot of fun for being a rec center."
While projects will be finishing up in April, others will be getting started.
One of those is the renovation and rebuilding of Nina Harris Exceptional Education Center.
Council members just last week approved a site plan for the new facility, which will house 316 students from kindergarten through age 23. The $13-million-plus plans will give students and staff a total area of 108,292 square feet, with 155 parking spaces, said Jim Miller, director of real property management for the Pinellas County School District. The plans are already several million dollars over the original budget, he said.
"We think this is going to be a great facility," Miller said. "It's first class."
Construction will take about 14 months.
Other construction that's getting under way is the Wal-Mart Supercenter on U.S. 19 N. The theaters and drive-in movie that formerly inhabited the site have been razed and the land is being leveled and prepared for the new store.
Also seeing site preparation is the land formerly used as the Mustang Flea Market on Park Boulevard. At the other end of the city from the Wal-Mart, it will also house a grocery store and several shops.
City officials are also beginning work on one of their pet projects, Park Station.
The $3.1-million project is slated for Park Boulevard at the railroad tracks where the Pinellas Park/Mid-County Chamber of Commerce is located.
Meetings are being scheduled now with architects and representatives from the Chamber, the Pinellas Park Art Society and the Pinellas Park Historical Society to get some idea of the space needs for each group.
The design is expected to be reminiscent of a railroad station to honor Pinellas Park's historical tie as a rail stop. It will be used to help anchor a city project designed to create a town center and help spur redevelopment in that area of the city.