CLEARWATER, Fla. — Downtown Clearwater could soon be just as popular as Clearwater Beach, according to developers who are in the process of renovating the entire Cleveland Street corridor. However, not everyone in the city is convinced of the plan.
Scott Dobbins, manager of the Cleveland Street Alliance, gave Tampa Bay 28 a tour of some of the newly renovated buildings on Cleveland Street. After sitting vacant and dilapidated for years, they are now move in ready.
WATCH: Public meeting set to discuss downtown Clearwater Cleveland Street development
Over the next several years, the plan is to remodel more than 40 storefronts into new restaurant, retail, and entertainment spaces along a four-block radius.
“From a trending standpoint people are looking for an open air, walkable, pedestrian friendly, live, work, play, dine, shop that’s what we are going to bring to Clearwater,” said Dobbins.
The Cleveland Street Alliance is a partner with the Church of Scientology. The renovated buildings are all owned by the church, but Dobbins said the new tenants will be independent from the church.
“And they care for the city, and this is looked at as a gift to the city in what we are doing in downtown,” said Dobbins about the Church. “We will start announcing and opening tenants toward the latter part of this year and that will be ongoing for the next three or four years.”
City councilwoman Lena Teixera said she is cautiously optimistic.
“I’m very excited about the prospect about these abandoned buildings being renovated and occupied but I’m actually waiting for the actual occupation, right? So I’m looking for activation, long term leases that bring high traffic and commerce to downtown,” said Teixeira.
Teixeira said she feels in some cases the developers put their marketing campaign first, and everything else second, for example, the 83,000 square foot Evo Entertainment center that would house the world’s biggest movie screen.
“In order to implement that plan as is there has to be vacation of three roads and a parcel that the city owns so having it promoted as a done deal I think is premature,” said Teixeira.
However, assistant city manager Alfred Battle said there has been regular open communication between the city and Cleveland Street Alliance. He’s excited about the future.
“Really making sure that their plans are consistent with the city’s plans, I would say both groups have worked on efforts to plan the environment,” said Battle.
“I think we have been very transparent and we have been pushing out information as we have structured that push out, there is sequencing to the announcements that are nuanced in the approach,” said Dobbins.
The city has scheduled a special meeting on May 28 to address any questions or concerns regarding the project.
“I think that will be a very good opportunity for everyone to share what is happening because you never know,” said Battle.
“The message that we are going to go through, the process, and that it will be transparent, and it will be out in public, and there is no back door deals, and the communication channels are open,” said Teixeira.
“And really an interest in collaborating on a true partnership level, we look forward to those opportunities and look forward to going in that direction,” said Dobbins.
The meeting is open to the public and takes place in the city hall chambers inside the main library at 5 p.m.
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