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Owners of Woolworth and Newberry buildings back Mulhern challenger

Posted Feb 21, 2011 by Christian M. Wade

Updated Feb 21, 2011 at 01:36 PM

It’s not too hard to figure out who the owners of the F.W. Woolworth and J.J. Newberry buildings are backing in the District 2 Tampa City Council race.

And it’s not Mary Mulhern, who has held the seat for the past four years.

Plastered on the side of the boarded up block of landmark buildings in the city’s downtown is a giant campaign sign for Scott Strepina, an accountant challenging the incumbent Mulhern for her citywide council seat in the March 1 elections.

Strepina said he didn’t offer the owners – Doran Jason Group, which also owns the nearby H.S. Kress building – anything for backing his bid to unseat Mulhern.

“It’s just a place for my sign,” he said. “I’m going getting involved with that issue.”

That said, there’s no love lost between the buildings’ owners and the city council.

In an effort to save the crumbling facades of both buildings, the council in 2006 approved an agreement outlining steps that the developers must take without a historic designation - including regular property inspections by city staff. But the owners said the historical restrictions forced the group to shelve multimillion dollar renovation plans, and both buildings remain vacant eyesores in the city’s downtown.

The Woolworth building was the site of lunch counter sit-ins in the 1960s. The Newberry store was founded in 1911 and is noted for its architecture.

Mulhern was not on the city council when the restrictions were imposed.

Last year, however, Mayor Pam Iorio, arguing that preserving the facades of both buildings is standing in the way of downtown redevelopment efforts, asked the council to terminate the 2006 agreement (more here). But the council, including Mulhern, declined to take a vote on Iorio’s proposal in August and the mayor eventually withdrew her request.