http://www.tallahassee.com/story/money/2015/09/14/eyes-bookstore-owner/72280126/
"High-rise apartments, trendy boutiques, posh college bars — they’ve all mushroomed around Jayson Hayes.
There was a time when his rust-covered Quonset hut on the corner of Gay and Gaines streets was more at home among rundown warehouses and weathered buildings. Now it looks like an orphan.
In less than a decade, a dozen new developments have altered the landscape between South Woodward and Railroad avenues. Another half dozen, including a grocery store, have been proposed or are moving forward.
“Most of the buildings that look like mine are just gone,” said Hayes, 69. But, he added, “You can’t complain about people if you’re going to be in business.”
Late Friday afternoon, the eve before Florida State’s second home game, Hayes momentarily stepped outside the metal building, more bunker than bookstore — the International Book Mine.
Gaines Street used to be desolate. Now, all around Hayes, horns blared and semis thundered. A few Seminole-clad students walked by, immersed in music or on their cellphones, oblivious to him.
“As long as we can stay here, we’ll be here,” said the former college instructor, sporting a gray pony tail. “If the landlord doesn’t sell it, I’ll be there for a long as he doesn’t sell it.”
Dawn of development
More than $128 million in new development has reshaped Gaines Street since the city shepherded revitalization efforts with fewer lanes, wider sidewalks and more public seating.
Residence Inn opened in 2007. Four years later, the Lofts on Gaines Street, and the District injected more apartments a year later. Urban Outfitters, a retail store specializing in the “upscale homeless” look, boosted Gaines Street with its presence in 2013. Then came the Block and the Deck, both completed in August 2014.
“There’s a lot more that’s being contemplated between College Town, Cascades Park and Gaines Street,” said Will Butler, a Tallahassee-based asset manager for Seminole Boosters Inc., who is overseeing the development of College Town on 5.74 acres on West Madison Street at Woodward Avenue near Gaines Street.
“We are having more conversation on using retail, lodging and housing,” he said.
A mixed-use development called The Corner is in the conceptual stages. College Town Phase II broke ground and is headed toward a fall 2016 completion date.
Phase II, located on a 1.80-acre area on the northeast corner of South Woodward Avenue and West Madison Street, provide 202 beds, 23,145 square feet of retail space and 3,300 square feet of office space, along with a parking garage. It’s clear Gaines Street is an area in transition."
http://www.fsunews.com/story/life/2015/11/17/all-saints-district-keep-odd/75883330/
Tallahassee's All Saints district has always been odd. Everything around Gaines Street and Railroad Square seems to be tailored for an alternative lifestyle cultivated by local art, music, small business and community.
However, the unique district has been the crux of controversy recently and may be facing a possible threat. Most of the issue involves a parking lot that is located in the heart of the All Saints district, one of the only places people have in the area to park their cars.
The City of Tallahassee has the option to sell the 300-space parking lot to a developer, who has plans to build a Hampton Inn in the space, or they could keep All Saints odd and disapprove the plans. Many citizens prefer the latter.
Community leaders Taylor Biro (co-creator of Gaines St. Fest), Joe Burg and Ralph Wilson started a campaign called "Keep All-Saints Odd" to raise awareness and show the City that the community is against the sale of the parking lot as well as the alteration of the All Saints culture.
After attending a few meetings at Bread and Roses Co-op and drafting up a petition, more people wanted to be in on the action that Biro, Burg and Wilson instrumented to protect their neighborhood. The campaign is now a collaboration of several All Saints businesses such as, Gaines Street Pies, All Saints Cafe, Olde Fields and Phaze One. Forty-five businesses are helping with tasks overall.
"Rather than just saying 'No Hampton Inn' and leaving it at that, we want to try to ask for more. [The All Saints District] is the absolute center of local commerce, culture and community," Keep All Saints Odd volunteer, Kirsten Parish said.
The Tallahassee residents behind "Keep All Saints Odd" have been flyer-ing the town and generating awareness through social media for a few weeks. The petition is circulating online and has been present at recent events, such as First Friday and Gaines St. Fest. There are currently over 1500 signatures.
"As soon as [people] hear about a Hampton Inn [they say], 'Wait a minute, this is an arts district,'" Parish said.
Aside from spreading the word and gaining support, the group wants to provide another option that means more than just parking. A multi-use building that would include an indoor market, retail and office space, a performance area, a garden and ample parking has been proposed instead.
"This campaign is great and all, but it sucks that we have to choose between a snooty hotel and a snooty open market. I mean all we really want is the city to leave us alone and let us keep our lot," Biro said.
The issue goes beyond the parking lot, however. Biro believes that "gentrification" is happening in the area.
"I keep hearing people say 'All Saints isn't what it once was' and yeah that has a lot of truth. It's true we have lost a few fights in the area. We have looked the other way and allowed developers, ordinances and yuppies to ruin what so many of us call our home away from home," Biro said.
There are various aspects of the district that attract people to the unique side of town, and the attractions are not chain businesses or everyday buildings. Even residents who have not always been around the district feel an attachment to it.
"Personally, if the All Saints lot [is] sold I [will] be genuinely hurt. It would honestly affect my entire opinion of staying in Tallahassee [longer]. That might sound extreme, but Tallahassee isn't like a lot of the places I've lived. It isn't covered in retail stores and corporate crap that make it typical, it's unique. There's passion and art in all of its most odd corners," Florida State student, McKenna Clark said.
With recently built structures and developments that surround the All Saints district, such as College Town and Cascades Park, one can only fathom what could possibly become of the area and culture in the future.
"Our city is growing and All Saints is circled by new developments. You only get one shot at redevelopment so it's critical that as the city grows, All Saints grows with it. We have to survive in order to grow and available parking is the life source of the district during dozens of festivals a year," owner of Gaines St. Pies, Jeremy Matlow said.
Similar to the contrast between Cascades Park and College Town with Gaines St, which often feels like day and night, the chain hotel may seem out of place in the district. It will be engulfed by antique warehouses and situated next to a food truck as well as other local delights.
"You walk down a road like Railroad or spend time in a place like Railroad Square, and you are glad to be somewhere that can give you a unique experience. You are glad to not be greeted by disgruntled employees that work for capitalist a**holes, you are glad to see and feel things that aren't found in every advertisement popping up on your smartphone or on your television," Clark said.
If the parking lot is sold, it is not just parking spaces that will be lost. The All Saints district faces the loss of their individualism, and perhaps everything else that makes the area an oddity.
The City Commission will be holding a public meeting on Tuesday, November 24th at 4 pm, where the final decision will be made on whether or not to sell the lot.
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