Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles
Our current commissioners are now discussing constructing a community center complex at Bayfront Park. Voters have rejected similar proposals twice by large pluralities. The only thing that has changed is that there are now fewer year-round residents and they are a decade or two older.
It may not be true that if we build it, they will come. Longboat was designed and marketed as a condominium-centric affluent seasonal retirement community. A majority of the condominium complexes are located on the west side of GMD. Most all have social amenities including a swimming pool, tennis courts, meeting areas for social activities and of course a very expensive beach at the front door. The island also has several areas of residential homes mostly inhabited seasonally. As always, the problem with proposing any changes to the current state of affairs on Longboat, whether it be a community center or a hotel or an expanded retail presence, is the lack or people 8 or 9 months of the year. In the case of a new community center it will be difficult to justify the annual 1/2 million dollar operating budget, much less the many millions required to build a new community center, if the center is under-utilized most of the year.
That is where my proposal comes into play. If the town were to lease the Mediterranean Plaza, located on Bay Isles near Avenue of the Flowers shopping center (Publix) for five years, at a favorable rate, and re-purpose the 25,000 square foot, two story structure as a community center, then we, as a community, would have the opportunity to see if there truly is the needed community support for a centralized community center on Longboat, before risking millions on something that falls flat on its face and becomes yet another empty edifice on our island.
Mediterranean Plaza is an almost perfect opportunity to enhance our community's social amenities, with little or no financial risk, while utilizing what may soon become the next commercial property tragedy in our community. The church on General Harris will soon be completed and Mediterranean Plaza will soon lose its last remaining large client.
Making use of the Mediterranean Plaza offers a few advantages to locating a new recreation building at Bayfront Park. Mediterranean Plaza has ample parking, with more available at Avenue of the Flowers for large events. If the 25,000 feet at the Plaza is inadequate then the community center can be readily expanded to include Madison's structure across the street. That building is also in economic peril.
It seems to me that we can accomplish two objectives with minimal risk and cost. The first is to create a large centrally located community center. The second is to reduce the blight of abandoned commercial property in our community. Government has an opportunity to become a partner with local business to revitalize unoccupied commercial properties by re-purposing the structures for community use. All of this while lowering financial risk to the taxpayers, and facilitating the creation of a community center far more quickly than a new community center.
Looking back at my previous columns, where I have expressed a need to have a community center, I now realize that there may be a flaw in my thinking. Our aging population, living in condominiums with social amenities close at hand, may not want to expend the energy to drive to a large recreation center that offers little more than what is already available to them. On the other hand, I believe that we need to offer more community social activities if we are to attract a new generation of residents on Longboat. The Mediterranean Plaza may offer an opportunity for our town to have its cake and eat it too. Perhaps we do not need to endure a lengthy fund-raising process before we have our community center. At the same time we can quickly begin to develop community awareness and compelling community social programs using existing facilities and reducing empty property blight.
Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles would make an inexpensive large attractive community center.
Mediterranean Plaza at Bay Isles
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