09/30/05
Team Punta Gorda seeing first fruits
PUNTA GORDA -- For Roger Kress and other Team Punta Gorda members,
the ribbon-cutting Thursday morning for the new Thomas Ryan
Associates building was special.
Kress, president of Team Punta Gorda, saw the building as the first
sign that the grassroots group's Citizens' Master Plan is becoming a
reality.
"It's been less than a year since our (workshop), and it's just
impressive that the town is moving that quick," Kress said,
referring to Team Punta Gorda's public workshops in March where
residents and property owners gave their input to Jaime Correa,
Knight Professor of Community Building, University of Miami, whom
Team Punta Gorda hired to lead the planning effort.
Team Punta Gorda rose from the devastation caused by Hurricane
Charley on Aug. 13, 2004. In the wake of the hurricane, Kress and
others wanted to put together a master plan that might help to
coordinate and guide the rebuilding of the city.
"And it's just beginning," Kress said.
The Thomas Ryan building on the 200 block of West Marion Avenue
incorporates the new urbanism and historic Punta Gorda architectural
look espoused by Team Punta Gorda's master plan and city planners'
goals for the historic downtown.
When Hurricane Charley hit the city last year, the storm
significantly damaged the building that Thomas Ryan owner Shannon
Gadbois was leasing and which had to be demolished. Even before the
storm, Gadbois said he was trying to buy the property, but the storm
gave him the opportunity to start fresh.
"You can't build a historic building, but we wanted to make this a
landmark building in Punta Gorda," Gadbois said. "It is an
investment, so I had to look at the bottom line, but I plan to be
here a long time."
The $2 million project calls for a two-story building that will echo
the style of the Princess Hotel, a 1940s-era brick structure in
downtown Punta Gorda. Gadbois is even going to try to purchase
bricks from older buildings to give his new building an old,
historic feel.
"We are just going to put a modern twist to it," Gadbois said,
explaining how the base of the building will be ringed with granite.
Gadbois added that he wanted to build a building "right," so that it
could withstand a hurricane.
The new building will be 10,000 square feet, 3,000 square feet
larger than the building destroyed by the hurricane. His firm will
occupy 7,000 square feet, and the rest of the space will be leased.
Gadbois hopes construction will be completed in June.
Gadbois working with Team Punta Gorda is not surprising, since he
was among its founding members. However, he also said he worked
closely on developing the plans with the city's Chief Planner, David
Hilston.
"From (Hilston's) guidance, what the city wanted Punta Gorda to look
like and looking at (old photographs) of what was here, (Correa)
said it fits exactly with (Team Punta Gorda's plan)," Gadbois said.
He and Hilston both described themselves as having a "working
partnership."
"It's nice to see a groundbreaking," Hilston said.
You can e-mail Steve Reilly at reilly@sun-herald.com.
By STEVE REILLY
Staff Writer
