By Max Linsky
You won't see the swinging wooden doors outside the saloon. You won't see tumbleweeds rolling slowly down the middle of the street, no grizzly men with their pistols drawn and nothing close to a wagon train. But the 1400 block of Central Avenue, a neighborhood that stares at Tropicana Field across vacant lots, is St. Petersburg's newest frontier. Just ask the people who left downtown and headed west to set up shop there.
"We were looking [for a space] downtown for a long time," says Juan Carlos Leyton, who will open his pizza shop, Isabellita's, at 1437 Central Ave., next month. "But the rent was so high, there was no way we could afford it. We had to come out here, where there is much less development." It was a risk.
Isabellita's is one of the latest businesses to forge west on Central Avenue, trading the comforting assurances of a revitalized downtown for the cheaper rents and empty storefronts of the old Gas Plant district that borders the dome. But the Leytons' strategy marks a shift for businesses in this area—they aren't banking on baseball to draw customers. And they aren't alone.
Big business has targeted the surrounding blocks as well, attracted not by cheap rents but by cheap "for sale" signs. The area is strewn with vacant lots, and large developers and corporations are buying up property in an effort to stretch downtown's revitalization westward. While small businesses are also speculating on the neighborhood's growth, they are hoping they can stick around if and when the boom hits.
Leyton, 37, and his wife, Darcy, are doing the renovations themselves in order to keep costs down. They both continue to work their day jobs, he in front of the oven at a downtown St. Petersburg pizza parlor, she behind a desk at the Tampa law offices of Trenam-Kemker. Most evenings they meet at the restaurant at 6:30 and start painting, after Darcy picks up their 11-month-old daughter, Isabella, from the babysitter.
The Leytons are going to keep Isabellita's small, and staff it only with family members. Juan Carlos' father, Danielo, has come out of retirement to handle food preparation, while Juan Carlos cooks the pies and works the register. Darcy will keep her job, thereby keeping health insurance for her daughter.
"We want it to be cozy and reliable," says Juan Carlos. "And who's more reliable than your family?"
Juan Carlos, who has been making pizza and sandwiches in the St. Petersburg area since he arrived here 15 years ago, was born on San Andreas Island off the coast of Colombia. He came to the United States hoping to learn the language and then head back. But in 1992 he met Darcy, who was born in upstate New York, and he stayed.
After 15 years of flipping pies for someone else, Juan Carlos has risked the security of a steady paycheck in an established neighborhood to become his own boss in one with an unclear future. But he isn't the only person on Central Avenue's 1400 block who came to America and realized a dream.
Next door to the Leytons are Maria Chehab and Mourad Yarane, a couple who emigrated from Morocco. In February 2003 they opened Treasures of Morocco, which sells furniture and pottery inspired by their homeland.
After a rocky start, Yarane says business has doubled since the store began to advertise around town.
"People don't just walk around here," says Chehab. "We needed to go out and bring them in."
There was a time when people were supposed to be walking around. Promises were made. With the construction of the dome in 1990 and the arrival of Major League Baseball in 1998, the 1400 block, along with several surrounding ones, was primed to boom.
But the crowds haven't come. And many of the businesses hoping to cash in have been forced to leave. As the Devil Rays continue to struggle in the standings, the neighborhood's newest members have been forced to try and make it on their own among the empty storefronts and padlocked doors.
The Leytons, who have been considering opening a place of their own for six years, understand the risks.
"All of our concerns were about money [when we were looking downtown]," says Juan Carlos. "The high rents, inflation, the chance we could lose everything; there were a lot of doubts. But when this place came along, the rent was low and the timing was right. We decided to go for it."
But the couple didn't just stumble across a newfound optimism. Last year Darcy Leyton lost her sister Darline to cancer, just a month before Darcy gave birth to Isabella.
"Darline was always encouraging us to go for it," says Darcy. "She did so much when she was sick: a triathlon, volunteer work, traveling. She made me realize that you have to live life to the fullest."
To survive, Isabellita's and Treasures of Morocco are going to have to give up on the Rays, at least for now. Juan Carlos has decided that his restaurant will focus primarily on deliveries to businesses downtown. "Of course, all the fans are welcome," he says. "But we cannot rely on baseball."
"Baseball!" exclaims Chehab. "We don't get a lot of business from baseball."
One establishment in the neighborhood does, however. Ferg's, a sports bar on the 1200 block, was one of the first businesses to move into the area after the dome was built.
"Since we got here in 1992," owner Mark Ferguson says, "two dozen bars have come and gone. But people keep coming back to us, because we were the first ones to take the risk. I was a school teacher heading into this dilapidated area trying to open a sports bar." Ferguson put his initial chance of failure at 90 percent.
"But I took a risk."
Ferg's, which started as a small business much like Isabellita's, has turned into a powerhouse on the block; the sprawling patio Ferguson built in 1995 is filled on most evenings. According to Ferguson, its profit has grown 20 percent during the last three years. Riding that success, Ferguson is looking forward to the neighborhood's development.
"This neighborhood is on the upswing," says Ferguson. "Once we get some nice stuff around here, things will pick up."
The "nice stuff" that Ferguson is alluding to has already begun to take shape. In the past three weeks a Designer Consigner shop has moved in, and plans have been released for a three-acre condominium complex that will also house the now-dormant Florida Hall of Fame. Part of the complex will occupy a vacant lot directly across Central Avenue from Isabellita's.
For businesses such as Designer Consigner and Ferg's, which own their buildings, the promise of such a large residential area and a subsequent rise in property value is a source of overwhelming optimism. But for Isabellita's and Treasures of Morocco, the plans deliver as much risk as they do promise.
"It would be great if they build across the street," says Leyton. "But then, if the property values go up, this building might get sold."
And if the building is sold, Leyton believes he may go out of business. It's all part of the risk in heading out to the frontier.
One neighbor on the 1400 block, Zbyszek Koziot, has already decided to close his gallery, after opening just seven months ago.
"St. Petersburg is dead," says Zbyszek, who was born in Poland. "I am closing because business has been horrible." According to Zbyszek, who exhibits only his own work and his wife's, their space has turned into a studio with a nice view of the stadium.
When asked what advice they would give the Leytons, Chehab and Zbyszek offered different opinions.
"I'd get out," says Zbyszek. "But they [the Leytons] might do OK, because from what I can tell, people here spend a lot more money on pizza than they do on art."
Chehab, who will remain in the neighborhood for "as long as it takes," gave this piece of advice: "Stay positive. Stay positive and never give up."
To make it on the frontier, Juan Carlos and Darcy may have no other choice.