A Litte Background Info

It appears the Centex/Guyton Energy site plan for the Commerce St. property across from the library has been scrapped and new drawings will be forthcoming. Jill Buford, CAPT President, noted at the "Sale at the Jail" on Saturday that their spokesperson wanted to postpone presenting to the Civic Association until after a new plan was drawn up. Jill pointed out, quite rightly I think, that the time to talk to the neighborhood is before plans are set. Sue Murphy of Centex is still on the agenda for May 23. Meeting starts at 7:00PM at the Rec. Center on Lancaster. Here's some background info. Take a look and be sure to bring some ideas along to the meeting.

Disclaimer: The blurbs and links that follow are just for info. There is nothing in the information presented at CAPT meetings so far to suggest that the Commerce St. property will be developed in any way similar to any of the projects shown. Speculate wildly if you want, but don't blame the Port Tampa blog!

Just about everyone in the southeast is aware of Centex as a homebuilder but it appears they have an enormous commercial building division doing everything from military housing to expansion of the Miami Airport terminals. Although the company does not provide links from its website I did search around for a few projects and found:

This picture of Starbucks at the Village Center at Dulles, a Washington DC area suburb. Forgive them the dated Tudor look, but I've been there and for some reason this area of Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) went hog wild with the faux timber frame look and can't seem to stop. I don't know which portion of this growing center Centex is responsible for, but the entire area is trying to revitalize from a car dependent area to pedestrian friendly.

Here is a link to a Boca Raton photo album where you can scroll down to seeMizner Park another mixed use development noted on the Centex Retail Portfolio web site.

I could not find any pictures of the Plaza at Delray which was a conversion from enclosed mall to open air strip, or the Blakeney Retail Center in Charlotte, NC. Blakeney is a "town within a town" in South Charlotte that is trying to adhere to a pedestrian friendly model while it straddles a major interstate interchange.

Finally, again with no link, the Centex site notes that they've built numerous Publix supermarkets.

Guyton Energy, is known for developing Texaco/Shell gas stations. However, founder Bryan Guyton was noted in this story about the Channelside 212 Lofts.