DUNEDIN — City commissioners have unanimously approved, on first reading, a rezoning that would allow 25,000 square feet of ground-floor retail in the Douglas Parking Center, a four-story garage planned as a key piece of the proposed Main Street Exchange development.
The vote moves the 1.07-acre site at 968 Douglas Ave. from Downtown Industrial to Downtown Core zoning. Retail is not permitted in industrial zones. A second reading and final vote is scheduled for Oct. 22.
The garage, being built by Mazas Development, will have 318 parking spaces, primarily for Main Street Exchange but also open to the public, Community Development Director George Kinney told commissioners. The site sits on the west side of Douglas Avenue, about 150 feet south of Skinner Boulevard, between Douglas and the Pinellas Trail.
Kinney said the parcel’s land use designation will not change, and the new zoning is consistent with its Activity Center designation.
“The applicant is requesting a rezoning to Downtown Core, which allows for a broader mix of commercial and retail activities consistent with the proposed redevelopment program,” Kinney said. Parking structures with ground-floor retail and commercial uses are permitted under the site’s land use designation, the community redevelopment agency master plan and the Countywide Rules, he added.
Only one other downtown parcel, immediately to the north, remains zoned industrial. Kinney said the city hopes it will eventually be redeveloped, “and then we’ll have a consistent downtown core for that particular zoning category.”
Bob Ironsmith, the city’s economic development director, called the project “a prime example of adaptive reuse” and said the community redevelopment agency has worked to make sure new projects add value to downtown.
“As you all know, this was a concrete plant for a long period of time,” Ironsmith said. “In more recent times, the city leased it for the art incubator, but really ... for most of the time, it was just storage for cars and boats and things that didn’t add any value to downtown.”
He said the city pursued the project much as it did the Artisan, another development on the Douglas corridor.
“We’re very excited about Bill Mazas’ investment here,” Ironsmith said. “As we went through this process, we kind of determined we wanted the height a little bit more in concert with what was at the Artisan, and of course we wanted the retail.”
The push to revitalize Douglas Avenue goes back years, he said, starting with a Community Development Block Grant that paid for streetscaping and brick sidewalks.
“This is going to be another addition of an activity center, where people can shop and walk through our downtown,” Ironsmith said.
At Pinellas County’s request, the building will have no connection to the Pinellas Trail and no retail on its trail side, he said. County officials felt the trail connection at the Artisan was too close, according to Ironsmith.
In its application, the developer said converting a single-story industrial warehouse into a four-story mixed-use parking structure with ground-floor retail “represents the highest and best use of this downtown parcel.” Dunedin is essentially built out, the application noted, with little vacant land left to develop.
The application also argued that Douglas Avenue has evolved from a service and industrial corridor into an extension of the downtown core, driven by new investment, the reuse of former industrial properties and proximity to the trail. Dunedin’s growth as a regional dining, entertainment and cultural destination “has created a documented need for structured parking,” the developer wrote, adding that modern planning has largely moved industrial uses out of downtowns.
Commissioners were uniformly supportive.
Mayor Maureen Freaney said her first question when the project came up was whether it could include retail, which the industrial zoning did not allow.
“I’m all about this. I think it’s great,” Freaney said. “I’m thrilled about this, and I’m thrilled with the investment you all are making in our downtown.”
She added that the project would help link downtown to Skinner Boulevard and “incrementally change that feel of Skinner as well.”
“It’s going to bring jobs, it’s going to increase our tax base, it’s going to bring visitors, and nothing but good additions to the city of Dunedin,” Commissioner Steven Sandbergen said.
Commissioner Tom Dugard said the rezoning “moves us in the right direction relative to consistency in the downtown core.”
Commissioner Jeff Gow, who previously opposed the city’s proposed parking garage on nearby Scotland Street for favoring cars over other forms of transportation, offered brief support: “Good project. The rezoning makes sense.”
Commissioner Robert Walker said the project is “consistent with the CRA and significantly increases the value of the property.”