“It doesn’t take long for them to knock it down,” said her husband, Mark, who was on site Jan. 8 as the wrecking ball turn the little house that became the Green Boutique, 1014 Bloomingdale Ave., into a heap of debris.
“Some people didn’t realize it was going to be torn down,” Roz Creager said. “Probably when they see it gone, it will surprise a lot of people. It probably has become a little bit of a landmark for the area.”
Their son, Matt, now a partner in the business, was born shortly after the Creagers moved into what was then a chopped-up concrete structure in need of desperate repair in 1977.
The Green Boutique, specializing in Vera Bradley and Brighton purses, shoes and jewelry, gifts, home décor and apparel, moved into the 36,000-square-foot Plaza Bella shopping center Thanksgiving Day. The store officially reopened for business Dec. 1.
As the developers of Plaza Bella, the Creagers knew that both the home they once lived in and an adjacent building had to come down to make room for a 7,000-square-foot retail complex. But that didn’t make it any easier to see the buildings demolished.
“How does it feel? It’s emotional, because that building holds a lot of memories,” Roz Creager said. “But we’re thrilled with progress, too. So it’s all real positive, but I hate to see everything come down.”
Also slated to be removed were some of the stately trees on the property.
“When we moved there, it was just a big, barren pasture,” Roz Creager said. “We planted all the trees that were there. I remember planting the trees when we redid the house, thinking of shade, and strategically placing them around the house. And, of course, with the, we planted even more trees. We planted a lot of the oak trees that were around there.”
The Creagers’ business began as a nursery but transformed into a gift shop. They closed the nursery about 15 years ago.
The old property consisted of two buildings, with a combined space of 2,600 square feet. The Plaza Bella shopping center has 5,000 square feet. Retailers include Robeks; Salon Essence; the Vino 100 wine store; Southern Title; and Orange, a home décor and gift shop specializing in contemporary gifts (see related story).
The Creagers helped design the building, which they feel should be a source of pride to the community that has meant so much to them.
Creager is the daughter of Dick Cimino, a longtime civic activist who served as president of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce and honorary mayor of Brandon. The elementary school in Bloomingdale East off Culbreath School is named in his honor.
Creager remembers when she could ride her horse on a curvy John Moore Road and into the orange groves near the Brandon Swim and Tennis Club, renamed the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center, at 405 Beverly Blvd.
“There were just a few houses, really, on Bloomingdale Avenue, but far to the east of me, and a couple of neighbors on Bell Shoals Road,” Creager said. “When that sun set, it was dark. There were no street lights. It was just pitch dark. It was the country. We were in the sticks.”
Those sticks gave way to suburbia, complete with big-box retailers and traffic gridlock, as well as a 2,270-student school, regional library and the Bloomingdale subdivision.
Creager remembers a water worker telling her about the coming Bloomingdale development after moving into her home in 1977.
“I remember him telling me, ‘Boy, you bought a good place. This whole subdivision, Bloomingdale, is going in and it has a golf course‘ ” Creager said.
The nearby Bloomingdale Square shopping center, anchored by Publix and Wal-Mart, was a pine tree forest, back then.
“It’s all progress. What can you say?” Creager said. “You move on.”
Her son, who graduated from Bloomingdale High School in 1996 and the University of South Florida four years later, also has mixed emotions.
“I’m glad to be staying here on the property and seeing this (Plaza Bella) business community and shopping center come about,” he said. “It would be sad if someone else had demolished it, and to see something pop up that we didn’t build, design or plan.”
Still, the Creagers did look into moving their old home, but it was just too expensive.
“Originally we were thinking of trying to incorporate it into the (Plaza Bella) development,” Creager said. “To move it or attach it to a building. But reality sets in when you start looking at the dollars and cents of things. It was impractical and cost-prohibitive. When you learn more about how things work, you realize it’s a pipe dream.”
As for Mark Creager, he took pictures as the old home came down.
“Different things hit you at different times,” he said, as he watched pieces of wood, “some tired old boards,” as he put it, crack in half.
“I rebuilt this place when we bought it,” he said. “My mother carried sheet rock, piece by piece, to the street and the garbage men took it away.”
Nostalgia aside, Mark Creager said the day of demolition felt “kind of good.”
“Right now, it’s good to see it come down because it has to be done and it’s holding up other things.”