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Centro Espanol Faces Setback

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By JOSE PATINO GIRONA, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

WEST TAMPA - Roof repairs for the historical Centro Espanol de West Tampa may have to wait a little longer.

The city recently learned it isn't a finalist for a $350,000 state grant it hoped would pay for roof upgrades for the 1912 building.

'The application was not among those that were ranked for funding,' the city's West Tampa and Drew Park manager, Jeanette LaRussa Fenton, wrote in an Oct. 5 e-mail.

'I am having some folks look at other funding sources, but I haven't received that report back,' Fenton said Monday.
Centro Espanol was built as a social hall for the Latin community, offering a cantina, ballroom and theater. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and operated until 1976. The building, 2306 N. Howard Ave., also is a local historic landmark.

The city sold the building in 1999 for $1 to the Tampa-Hillsborough Urban League, which planned to restore it. The nonprofit organization folded in 2006 after 84 years, leaving debts of $1.8 million to Wachovia Bank, $795,000 to the city and $422,000 to Hillsborough County.

The city bought the building in January for $1 million.
Community activist Leo Alvarez called the state's decision disappointing and surprising.

'I look at it as a minor setback,' he said.

Alvarez said he plans to create a committee with people who attended a July discussion on the Centro's future in hopes of gaining momentum to use Community Investment Tax revenue for repairs.

The 30,000-square-foot building needs repairs to the theater, windows and grand staircase. Theater repairs have been estimated at $1.6 million.

City officials say tenants are needed to help cover the building's annual operating costs of $136,000.

Federal grants require the building be used for social services. The city could meet the requirement by leasing the property to a for-profit business that hires low- to moderate-income employees. The city could also reimburse the $2.5 million in federal grants.

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 831-2110 or jpatino@tampatrib.com.

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